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MENTAL HYGIENE. 




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MENTAL HYGIENE 



BT 

I. RAY, M. D., 






Health of mind, as well as of body, is not only productive in itself of a greater 
sum of enjoyment than arises from other sources, but is the only condi- 
tion ' our frame in which we are capable of receiving pleasure from with- 
« Sir James Mackintosh. 




BOSTON: O 
TICKNOR AND FIELDS. 

IMS. 






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Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1863, by 

Ticknor & Fields, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of 

Massachusetts. 



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RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE: 
PRINTED BY H. O. HOUGHTON. 






ADVERTISEMENT. 



The present work is not offered as a sys- 
tematic treatise on Mental Hygiene. Its pur- 
pose is mainly to expose the mischievous 
effects of many practices and customs preva- 
lent in modern society, and to present some 
practical suggestions relative to the attainment 
of mental soundness and vigor. If it shall 
lead, in any degree, to serious reflection and 
amendment, its object will have been well ac- 
complished. 



a 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Mental Hygiene as affected by Cerebral 
Conditions. 

Relation of the mind to the brain, 2. — Mind, what powers it em- 
braces, 3. — Mental movements, how far dependent on spiritual or 
physical causes, 6. — Unity of man, 7. — Phrenology, 9. — Ends of 
our being provided for in the organic arrangements, 10. — Limits 
of mental excellence, 12. — Laws of breeding, 13. — The fortunes 
of the race dependent on mental efficiency, 16. — Organic traits or 
qualities transmitted to offspring, 17. — Insanity a source of mental 
imperfection in the offspring, 18; also, other nervous affections, 19; 
also, unfavorable surroundings, 20. — Crime, 23. — Objections to the 
law of transmission considered, 27. — The sound and the unsound 
may exist together, side by side, 30 ; Lord Byron, 32 ; Dr. Johnson, 
33. — Insensibility to moral distinctions, 34. — Impulses to crime, 36. 
— Marriages of consanguinity, 37 ; statistics thereof, 38 ; mixing of 
common blood in secluded places an evil, 40. — Rural and manufac- 
turing districts compared in point of insanity, 41. — Intemperance 
a cause of cerebral deterioration, 44 ; producing in the offspring idi- 
ocy, 44, intemperance, 45, criminal impulses, 45. — Sound bodily 
constitution essential to vigorous mental health, 46 ; though bodily 
infirmities are sometimes overcome by strength of will, 47, as exem- 
plified in Pascal, Cowper, Hall, Channing, 48. — Tendency of dis- 
ease to absorb the attention and draw the mind from other thoughts, 
48. — Few of the distinguished names in English literature belonged 
to men in bad health, 50; highest degree of health necessary to the 
highest success, 51 ; Wellington and Napoleon, 51 ; mortality decreas- 
ing and ill-health increasing, 53 ; our women peculiarly subject to 
ill-health, 54 ; tone of our literature affected by it, 56 ; a constitu- 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

tion with great powers of endurance the source of some men's 
greatness, 58. — Objections to the doctrine of the close connection 
"between the mental and organic conditions considered, 60; free- 
will, free agency, 61; the moral sense, how constituted, 62; Dr. 
Hoi mes on the moral sense, 64. 



CHAPTER II. 

Mental Hygiene as affected by Physical In- 
fluences. 

Air, 66. — Vitiated air generally affects the exercise of the brain, 
68. — Some climates produce irritability, 69. — Depressing effect of 
English east-winds, 70. — The American restless, impulsive tem- 
perament attributable to climate, 71. — Exercise necessary to men- 
tal health, 72; much neglected, 73; badly managed, 74; English 
customs, 75; exercise should be accompanied by mental recreation, 
76. — Diet, 77; kind most conducive to mental health, 78 ; much 
animal food not necessary to the highest mental or bodily vigor, 79; 
Scotch laborers, 81; Chinese, 81; American laborers much subject 
to temporary illness, 81. — Animal and vegetable food compared as 
to amount of nutriment, 83. — Drinks, 83 ; alcoholic drinks consid- 
ered as a beverage, 84 ; whether required by the exhaustive influ- 
ences of civilization, 83; distinguished literary men abstemious, 85; 
Pitt's habits, 86; Burke's, 87. — Alcoholic drinks habitually and 
abundantly used, impair the health of the brain, 88 ; useful in ab- 
normal conditions of the system, 89. — Irresistible impulses to drink, 
90 ; means of prevention and cure of drunkenness, 92 ; hospitals for 
the insane, 93 ; asylums for inebriates, 94 ; self-confidence of inebri- 
ates, 95. — Sleep, 97; consequences of insufficient sleep, 98; South- 
ey's case and Newton's, 99; loss of sleep an exciting cause of insan- 
ity, 100; the proper amount of sleep, 100; night-study, 101; the late 
hours of evening amusements prejudicial, 103. — Prevalent over- 
working of the brain, 104. — A certain amount of mental activity 
favorable to health, 106. — Age as connected with mental vigor, 108 ; 
German scholars, judges, 108; amount of mental exercise compati- 
ble with safety, 110 ; habits of Scott, 112. — Waste of nervous ener- 
gy in civic life, 113 ; demands upon the brains of lawyers, clergy- 



CONTENTS. IX 

men, judges, 115. — Excessive mental labor leads to a peculiar ner- 
vous erythism, 116. — Demands upon the brain of the young, 117; 
false views of education, 117. — Amount of study consistent with 
health, 119 ; amount required in common schools, 122 ; examples of 
days' work, 124; evening study, 125 ; boarding-schools, 126. — Severe 
exercise of memory, 131. — Effect of excessive study, 133. — Age at 
which school-instruction should begin, 135. 



CHAPTER III. 

Mental Hygiene as affected by Mental Condi- 
tions and Influences. 

The true end of mental cultivation and discipline, 139. — Partial 
cultivation of the mental powers to be avoided, 140 ; its mischievous 
effect when applied to the imagination, 143, to the sentiment of 
religion, 145, of benevolence, 147. — The well-cultivated mind most 
capable of enduring shocks, 149. — Ill-balanced minds of various 
kinds, 150 ; viz : a lack of administrative ability, 150, of stability, 151 ; 
defective development of the moral powers, viz: imperfect co* 
scientiousness, 152, excessive self-esteem, 154, jealousy, 154, a 
envy, 155. — Sympathy or imitativeness, 155 ; witnessed in the pi 
alent opinions and feelings, 156 ; its agency in producing virtue 
vice, strength and weakness, 157 ; its effect for ill favored by 
healthy susceptibilities, 159; witnessed in men's daily life, 159; i 
spective of moral qualities, 160; witnessed in great social and po ii 
cal movements, 163 ; it involves the animal frame, 164, as in hyst< 
chorea, stammering, 164; it is also seen in the convulsive mot - 
accompanying great religious epidemics, 165; mal de laira, ! 
mewing, &c, in old convents, 166; Trembleurs of Cevennes, 
Convulsionnaires of St. Medard, 167; the Jerks, 168. — Epiderr 
character of suicide, 169, of homicide, 169, of mania, 170, of wi 
craft, 171, case of Grandier, 171; confessions of witches 17.' 
Simulation of illness, 175. — Ill-balanced persons unfit associate 
the young, 178. — Political and religious occasions of mental ex< 
ment to be avoided by persons of unhealthy tendencies, 179; t 
danger increased by the disregard of the common rules of healt 



X CONTENTS. 

which they are accompanied, 183, and the interruption of the ordi- 
nary exercises of mind, 184. — Pleasing less dangerous than painful 
emotions, 185. — Political less dangerous than religious excite- 
ment, 185. — Frequency of the latter attributed to the prevalent 
interest in the subject, 187. — The truths of Christianity conserva- 
tive, 193. — Cases of mischief from religious excitement, 194. — 
Bodily condition affected by mental impressions, 197. — Mental 
health affected by the character of the passions, temper, and dis- 
position, 198. — Effect of habit on the mental health, 200. — Recrea- 
tion, 206. — Unsteadiness of purpose a national fault, 208. — Work 
essential to mental health, 210 ; as necessary to women as men, 215. 
— Amusement in relation to mental health, 217. — Aspiration be- 
yond ability mischievous, 220. — Impulsive temperament a source 
of danger, 221. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Mental Hygiene as affected by the Practices 
of the Times. 

Mental activity more common in modern than ancient times, 225. 
— Prevalence of insanity, 227. — Civilization regarded as increasing 
insanity, 228; reasons of this result, to be found in the peculiar 
agencies of a highly civilized state, 230; printing, 233; books, 234; 
newspapers, 235 ; novels, 241 ; facilities for enterprise and adventure, 
245; trade, 247; inquisitive disposition, 247; devotion to ologies and 
isms, 250; disposition to excess and exaggeration, 251; republican 
institutions, 253; hurry and impatience, 256. — Popular views of 
education require intellectual rather than moral culture, 257. — 
Domestic training at fault, 259. — Ordinary virtues degraded, 261. 
— Intellectual education partial, 262. — Juvenile books, 265 ; calcu- 
lated to weaken the youthful mind, 267. — Vicious books, 272. — 
Effect on the common mind of the general change in domestic pur- 
suits and arrangements consequent on change of times, 277. 



r. 



CONTENTS. XI 

CHAPTER V. 

Mental Hygiene as affected by Tendency to 
Disease. 

Predisposition to mental disease, 285; liable to be developed by 
bodily ailments, 286. — Physical education of children predisposed 
to mental disease, 287; their mental training, 288. — Children put to 
study when too young, 289. — Adults should avoid whatever in 
food, exercise, and recreation is calculated to impair the vital 
energies, 292. — Depreciated health of American women, 293. — 
Mental regimen most suitable to such as are predisposed to mental 
disease, 294; their employments and recreations, 295; their mental 
exercises, 297; disposed to cultivate the imagination, 299; the 
poetical temperament, 300. — Exclusive devotion to some special 
object, 302. — Moral as well as intellectual powers subject to disease, 
304. — Duty of friends in the early stage of disease, 308 ; their im- 
mediate interference justified by indications of violence, 310; or 
high exaltation, 311 ; or suicidal disposition, 312. — Restraint suita- 
ble to the required purpose, 312. — Travelling, 313 ; water-cure, 
residence in the country, 314; hospitals for the insane, 315; reasons 
of their superior efficacy, 316; physicians and attendants familiar 
with their duties, 318; moral management more easy than in one's 
home, 322; absence of exciting scenes and painful associations, 
322; the stage of convalescence best managed in a hospital, because 
the patient continues to be looked after and judiciously restrictedj 
323; character of hospital service, 327. — Hospital treatment should 
have a fair trial, 331 ; experiments disastrous, 332 ; visits of friends, 
333. — Progress of an attack often marked by fluctuations, 337. — 
Proper time for removal, 338. 



MENTAL HYGIENE. 



CHAPTER. I. 



MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY CEREBRAL CON- 
DITIONS. 

Few, even of those who are accustomed to 
think and inquire, recognize, fully and practi- 
cally, the important truth that the efficiency of 
the mental powers is determined in a high de- 
gree by the hygienic condition of the bodily 
organs, especially the brain. This organ has al- 
ways been regarded as somehow necessary to 
the mental manifestations, but beyond this single 
fact, there has been noticed scarcely any other 
indication of their mutual dependence. Indeed, 
the spiritual element of the mind has seemed to 
place it beyond the accidents of health and dis- 
t ease. Besides, the idea that it could be affected 
by any merely physical conditions seemed to be 
degrading to its dignity, and indicative of the 
coarsest materialism. If the mind may be dis- 
eased, then it may perish, and so our hopes of 
l 



Z MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

immortality be utterly destroyed/ This startling 
conclusion has been sufficient to deter the mass 
of mankind from admitting very heartily the 
facts which physiological and pathological in- 
quiries have contributed to this subject. The 
people who have no difficulty in discerning the 
relation between the health of the lungs and the 
atmospherical conditions around them, or be- 
tween the health of the digestive organs and the 
food they are expected to elaborate, utterly ig- 
nore all connection between the hygienic condi- 
tion of the brain and the mental energies depend- 
ent upon it. Thus they completely missed the 
principle which is the foundation of all true men- 
tal hygiene, viz. that the manifestations of the 
mind and the organic condition of the brain are 
more or less affected by each other. 

The conditions of this relation, — the parts re- 
spectively borne by the bodily and the spiritual 
element in the production of the mental mani- 
festations, — of course, are but imperfectly under- 
stood. And perhaps much of the reluctance to 
accept and apply the facts which physiological 
and pathological inquiries have contributed to 
this subject, may be traced to a fear of the ma-, 
terialism which they were too readily supposed I 
to imply. The difficulty always has been so to 
define the limits between the physical and the 
spiritual, as to secure to man the exclusive pos- 



CEREBRAL CONDITIONS. 3 

session of a high prerogative. If the mind is the 
only part destined to be immortal, it seemed to 
be necessary, in order to avoid an unpleasant 
conclusion, that it should be so defined as to ex- 
clude any manifestations of the brutes. Hence 
have arisen countless speculations more ingen- 
ious than sound concerning the nature of mind ; 
and hence it is, too, that after all that has been 
said and written, the current philosophy on the 
subject does not fairly represent the facts of sci- 
ence. What we know as certain is contained 
within a very small compass, and may be briefly 
considered before entering upon the task before 
us, in order, especially, to prevent any misunder- 
standing as to the meaning of common terms 
and modes of expression. 

The mind, as I understand it, embraces all the 
powers, qualities, and attributes, which are con- 
cerned in maintaining those relations to other 
beings that are necessary to our highest welfare. 
The faculty which investigates the relations of 
cause and effect is not more truly a manifesta- 
tion of mind, than the power to love and to hate. 
Whether we meditate on lofty truths, or on the 
beautiful creations of the painter and sculptor; 
whether we recognize and revere the claims of 
superior virtue, or burn with desire to revenge a 
wrong ; whether we yield to the allurements of 
love, or start with horror from impending destruc- 



4 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

tion,— in each and every instance, we manifest 
some quality of mind. Like the flower, like the 
insect, like the crystal, like every work of God, 
the mind is complete and perfect in its kind. 
Every one of its powers is designed to accom- 
plish some indispensable purpose, and bears the 
marks of unerring wisdom. Unlike the works 
just mentioned, however, it is susceptible of in- 
definite development, whereby it becomes capa- 
ble of fulfilling the nobler ends of our existence. 
In this life, at least, the mental powers are 
connected, in some way, with the brain. On 
this point all are agreed, but, as to the nature of 
this connection, there has always been the great- 
est possible variety of opinion. The most prev- 
alent belief, both among the wise and the sim- 
ple, is that the mind is an independent essence 
or principle requiring the brain, not for its exist- 
ence, but only for the mode of its manifestation. 
As the music is in the player, not in the instru- 
ment he uses, so is the brain the material organ 
by which the mind is enabled to exercise its 
powers. On the other hand, among men whose 
views on philosophical subjects are determined 
more by the testimony of sense than any subtle 
deductions of reason, there are some who regard 
the mind as entirely a function of the brain. 
Without the brain there is, and there can be, no 
mind. This question, as already hinted, derives 



CEREBRAL CONDITIONS. 5 

its importance chiefly from its theological bear- 
ings. If the mind is an original, independent 
principle having only an incidental connection 
with the body, then, it is supposed, it may, and 
indeed must exist after the dissolution of the 
body. But, if it is merely a phenomenon result- 
ing from the play of organic elements, it must 
necessarily perish with the organism from which 
it sprung. It is not quite certain that either 
of these views will warrant the inference that is 
drawn from it. Although we may admit the in- 
dependent existence of the mind, there must be 
other reasons, I apprehend, for believing it to be 
immortal; and, though we may admit that the 
mind is a product of vital movements, it does not 
necessarily follow that there can be no conscious 
existence after the component parts of the ani- 
mal mechanism are dispersed. We are not to 
measure the resources of Almighty Power by our 
own feeble conceptions, nor to suppose that a 
fact is impossible merely because some of its 
conditions are beyond our comprehension. 

In this question is involved another of a more 
practical character, viz. is the development of 
the mind a result exclusively spiritual, or exclu- 
sively cerebral? When a person has grown 
wiser and better with ripening age, has the 
change been effected by increasing the delicacy 
of the organism, or by developing the faculties 



6 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

independently of any such process ? When the 
mental traits of the offspring resemble the par- 
ent's, is it the physical or the spiritual element, 
that has been transmitted ? We know too little 
of the connection between mind and body to an- 
swer these questions very definitely. Each sup- 
position is burdened with difficulties that indi- 
cate some radical defect in the common philoso- 
phy on this subject. It may be doubted if it is 
quite correct to consider the individual as com- 
posed of two things essentially distinct both in 
origin and nature, instead of regarding him as 
a being endowed with various powers which, 
though serving each a special purpose, form an 
harmonious whole — a single, individual man. 

The difficulty of explaining upon the com- 
mon theory the facts that meet us at every turn, 
little as it may seem in some instances, is per- 
fectly insuperable in others. When a sinner is 
suddenly turned from his wicked courses by an 
awakening appeal, or a painter has embodied 
upon the canvas some new-born conception of 
his fancy, it is obviously a practical absurdity 
to suppose that these persons have only experi- 
enced some change in the arrangement of the 
organic particles of the brain. Equally absurd 
would it seem,, to suppose that the disease, or 
injury, or old age, which has impaired the vigor 
of the intellect, acted immediately on the men- 



CEREBRAL CONDITIONS. 7 

tal powers, leaving the nervous system endowed 
with all its original integrity and delicacy. In 
the cases here indicated, there can be no dif- 
ference of opinion ; but who would venture to 
make the requisite distinction in all the count- 
less movements that constitute the mental life 
of the individual, ranging from the transitory 
emotions of the child to the profoundest deduc- 
tions of the philosopher? And in those cases 
where we think we witness both a corporeal 
and a spiritual movement, who shall undertake 
to assign the part respectively borne by each ? 
When a choleric mortal becomes red in the face, 
and foams with rage under the sense of insult 
or injury; or a troop of jolly companions are 
making merry over their liquor, we are accus- 
tomed to say that a movement of blood to the 
brain or a fresh impulse of the nervous current, 
has given rise to a strong mental emotion, but 
beyond the simplest statement of the fact we 
can say nothing, though quite sure that this is 
not the only agency in the case. On the other 
hand, when we see the accomplished orator 
swaying at his will the convictions and passions 
of a vast assembly, we call it a triumph of mind ; 
but we are obliged to admit that it is accom- 
panied by an unwonted degree of cerebral activ- 
ity. This doctrine of the unity of the individ- 
ual man, as applied to the subject of mental 



8 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

hygiene, obliges us to be content with the gen- 
eral principle, that whatever improves the phys- 
ical qualities of the brain also improves, in some 
way or other, the qualities of the mind ; and that 
judicious exercise of the mind is followed by 
the same result. In both cases, in fact, we ob- 
serve the same law of development whereby the 
systematic and appropriate exercise of a part is 
followed by increased vigor, capacity, and power 
of endurance, while a deficient or excessive ex- 
ercise is followed by weakness and premature 
decay. 

Another point touching the connection of 
mind and body demands a passing notice in 
these preliminary remarks. The simple fact that 
the brain is the material instrument of the mind 
has not always satisfied those who were familiar 
with its structure. When they looked on the 
intricate convolutions of its surface, and ob- 
served its division into hemispheres and lobes ; 
when w T ith knife in hand they exposed its vari- 
ous rounded masses of nervous matter, and 
traced the medullary bands that united one side 
with the other ; when they unfolded its ventri- 
cles and followed the sensorial nerves to their 
origin, they could scarcely help conceiving the 
idea that the different parts of the wonderful 
organ before them must have each its particular 
office in the work of manifesting the mind. It 



CEREBRAL CONDITIONS. 9 

was reserved for our own day, however, to see 
this speculation assume the shape of a complete 
and systematic body of doctrine, in which every 
portion of the cortical substance of the brain is 
assigned to some particular faculty, sentiment, 
or propensity, each of which is regarded as an 
original, innate, independent power, exercised 
by its appropriate organ. In the localization of 
these organs the founders of Phrenology profess 
to have been guided solely by observation ; but 
they also endeavor, in every instance, to show 
that the necessities of the human economy re- 
quire such a power. In the latter branch of 
their system, they have been more fortunate, per- 
haps, than in the former. In a few instances, 
both the existence and the place of the organ 
have been established by abundant proof; but, 
with these exceptions, the evidence has not sat- 
isfied the deliberate and unbiassed judgment of 
scientific men. [As a speculative theory, it un- 
questionably contains much truth, recognized as 
such, too, by many who have little sympathy 
with its anatomical doctrines. Its analysis of 
the mental phenomena is clear and precise, indi- 
cating\ — what metaphysical inquiries seldom 
have — a shrewd observation of the springs of 
action, anil a profound insight of the relations 
of man to the sphere in which he moves. Defi- 
cient as it is, as a theory of mind, it is neverthe- 



10 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

less valuably as having indicated the true mode 
of investigation, and especially for the light it 
throws on the whole process of education and 
development} 

It is proper, in this connection, to consider 
that the essential ends and objects of our exist- 
ence are not left to the accidents of education, 
but are provided for in the very constitution of 
our nature. Such a provision, whether in the 
shape of an animal propensity, an all-prevailing 
sentiment or belief, or a special aptitude and 
ability, must be regarded as conclusive proof of 
the reality and importance of the end thus se- 
cured. Every sentiment or power must have its 
means of gratification, or field of exercise. To 
suppose the contrary would be as repugnant to 
every idea of moral fitness as that fancy of the 
poets which attributed sensation to the trees, 
though without the power of pursuing pleasure 
or avoiding pain. That sentiment which impels 
us to shrink from death, and cling to life how- 
ever burdened with sorrow, we call an original 
sentiment of our nature, required for that indis- 
pensable end, the preservation of the individual. 
With equal reason we may say that the longing 
for existence beyond the present life — the con- 
viction, not derived from philosophy or poetry, 
that this is not the be-all and the end-all with 
us — is an original sentiment of our nature, and 



CEREBRAL CONDITIONS. 11 

thus proves the reality of the existence which its 
gratification requires. We must adopt this con- 
clusion, or believe that the mind, so perfect in 
every other respect, is at fault here — endowed 
with a power which has no possible sphere of 
activity. It may be said that this is one of those 
convictions which result from education, and 
consequently has none of that certainty which 
belongs to an original sentiment. The premise 
may be partly true, and the conclusion false. 
"We admit the fact that the sentiment in ques- 
tion, not being necessary to the preservation of 
the individual, sometimes gives but faint tokens 
of its presence, because development is required 
to make it a quickening principle, inspiring him 
with loftier aims and pointing to a nobler des- 
tiny than any which the largest experience of 
life could reveal. The nerves are not originally 
endowed with that delicacy of feeling, nor the 
muscles with that degree of power which train- 
ing is capable of conferring ; but it is no less 
true that these organs are possessed by the in- 
fant as well as the full-grown man. 

The limits within which mental cultivation 
may produce its appropriate effects have not al- 
ways been very correctly defined. Some of the 
elements of the question are beyond our reach ; 
but, in regard to others, our knowledge is abun- 
dant, and there can scarcely be any diversity of 



12 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

opinion. Cultivation of the bodily and mental 
powers raises the individual to a higher point 
in the scale of being ; and, of course, the more 
widely it is diffused the greater will be the num- 
ber of those who achieve, this elevation. The 
effect in question is not merely an increase of 
knowledge with its accompanying benefits, but 
an enlargement of all those qualities on which 
the efficiency of the mind depends. It is exem- 
plified in the difference between a native Aus- 
tralian and a cultivated European ; between 
the unthinking multitude and the Bacons and 
Newtons of the world. Individuals of the for- 
mer classes may be improved, but no ingenuity 
of discipline could possibly raise them to the 
level of the latter. | The only question is whether 
any point of development reached by the indi- 
vidual may be regarded as a step established 
and secured towards the indefinite elevation of 
the race ; whether, in other words, the improve- 
ment of the individual may not become con- 
genital in his offspring, and thus furnish a new 
starting-point, at every remove, for higher ad- 
vancement. In reply, we need only refer to the 
well recognized laws which govern the transmis- 
sion of qualities in the inferior animals.' These 
laws warrant the belief that, by complying with 
their requirements, the traits of the individual, 
mental as well as bodily, may be made perma- 



CEREBRAL CONDITIONS. 13 

nent in the race, with such limitations as are im- 
posed by the distinctive character of the species. 
Under any possible improvement of this kind, 
man must still remain a man — he cannot be- 
come a demigod or an angel.J 

"We must distinctly understand what can and 
what cannot be accomplished by a faithful com- 
pliance with the laws of breeding. "We are 
entirely destitute of any experiments on the sub- 
ject, but we have no reason to believe from anal- 
ogy that the mind can be lifted to higher grades 
of excellence than it has already reached. The 
remarkable quality which stock-breeders succeed 
in rendering permanent in the domestic animals 
— fleetness in one, power in another, size in 
another, a certain relation between bone and 
muscle in another — represents but a small frac- 
tion of the whole constitution. The fleet Ara- 
bian cannot be considered as nearer the point of 
equine perfection than the immense English 
dray-horse ; nor would any one but a Smithfield 
drover contend that a Berkshire or a Suffolk is 
a worthier specimen of the porcine race than the 
wild boar of the forest. Thus the question as 
to the extent to which improvement of the race 
may be carried cannot be settled by these results 
in the arts of breeding, which indicate only par- 
tial elevation. There has not yet been obtained 
in any particular breed a considerable number 



14 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

of desirable qualities ; for the general rule is 
that each special excellence is obtained at the 
expense of some other. So well is this now un- 
derstood, that nobody attempts to obtain in one 
breed the excellences of all. Now, what we seek 
for as the proper result and aim of mental cul- 
tivation is, not a particular endowment that may 
be transmitted from one generation to another, 
but a large range of capacity, great facility of 
achievement, and great power of endurance. 
That these qualities may be rendered perma- 
nent by a faithful compliance with the laws of 
breeding, there can scarcely be a doubt; but 
this, it must be observed, is something very far 
short of indefinite development. "We have no 
reason to suppose that, by any possible scheme 
of training and breeding, finer specimens of the 
race can be obtained than Pericles and Alcibia- 
des ; but we are warranted in believing that by 
this means individuals of distinguished general 
excellence would be far more common. If it be 
true, then, that, in the various stages of its prog- 
ress, the mind, like the body, is under the gov- 
ernment of inflexible laws, it follows that these 
laws should be thoroughly understood, in order 
to obtain the highest possible degree of mental 
efficiency. To show exactly what they are, to 
exhibit the consequences that flow from obeying 
or disobeying them, is the essential object of 



CEREBRAL CONDITIONS. 15 

jL Mental Hygiene, which may be defined as the 
art of preserving the health of the mind against 
all the incidents and influences calculated to 
deteriorate its qualities, impair its energies, or 
derange its movements. The management of 
the bodily powers in regard to exercise, rest, 
food, clothing, and climate ; the laws of breeding, 
the government of the passions, the sympathy 
with current emotions and opinions, the disci- 
pline of the intellect, — all come within the prov- 
ince of mental hygienel A complete and sci- 
entific treatise on tfter subject would require 
discussions, details, and references, of little inter- 
est to the general reader, for whom this work is 
chiefly designed. I shall aim to present only 
the general conclusions that have been reached, 
with no more of detail than is necessary to make 
the matter intelligible and impress it the more 
strongly on the mind. 

In using the term, mind, in the following 
pages, I shall not restrict myself to its popular 
meaning, as something separate and distinct 
from the body, but shall employ it as a generic 
expression of the mental phenomena without 
reference to their origin or nature. And so of 
the term, brain. However I may use it for the 
sake of convenience, I would not be supposed 
to favor any theory whatever respecting its con- 
nection with the mind. Being the instrument 



16 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

of the mind, its condition must necessarily affect 
the mental manifestations, and therefore it may 
not be improper to speak of mental disorders as 
if the brain were the only agency concerned in 
them. 

Now, more than ever before, the fortunes of 
men, the welfare and happiness of the race, are 
determined by mental efficiency. The time has 
been when the mass of the people had but little 
use for their minds. They had no occasion to 
think. Indeed they were forbidden to think. A 
few favored mortals did their thinking for them. 
It was enough for them to do as they were bid. 
Stout limbs, stalwart frames, robust health, were 
what the times demanded and what the times 
admired. A man was valued by the force of his 
blows, by his swiftness of foot, by his capacity 
for hardship. Now, these qualities will give him 
but a low place in the social scale, and secure 
for him but a small share of those privileges 
which constitute the highest kind of human 
happiness. Never before did so large a por- 
tion of mankind think. Never before did so 
large a portion of the race strive together for 
the great prizes of life, in a contest of mind 
with mind, not muscle with muscle, nor limb 
with limb — a contest in which, in the long run, 
the mind will win that can accomplish the great- 
est amount of work. I use the phrase advisedly. 



CEREBRAL CONDITIONS. 17 

We are so much in the habit of believing that 
great intellects alone are capable of great 
achievements, that we get the idea that minds 
less happily endowed can make no impression 
on the world. Leaving out of view the splendid 
exceptional cases, the careful observer can hardly 
avoid the conclusion, that the original endow- 
ment has less to do with the result, than the 
patient application, the indomitable persever- 
ance, the unwearied endurance. Great geniuses 
come by nature. What we want — what, I be- 
lieve, is within the reach of the race — .are healthy, 
vigorous, well-balanced minds. Let us then con- 
sider some of the principal incidents and condi- 
tions on which these qualities depend ; and first, 
those of an outward or physical character. 

There are two indispensable requisites to a 
sound and vigorous mind, viz. a brain free 
from all congenital tendencies to disease or 
deterioration, and a healthy condition of the 
other bodily organs. The first results from a 
rigid compliance with the laws of breeding, 
which regulate the transmission of organic 
traits and qualities from one generation to an- 
other. Men are too apt to imagine that these 
laws have no other end than that of preserving 
the characters of the species, entirely overlook- 
ing that other indispensable end, the preserva- 
tion of the characters of the individual. The 
2 



18 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

truth is that not only are the forms of the body 
thus maintained within certain rigorous limits 
of variation, but also its hygienic conditions, for 
good or for ill.] If the progenitors have been 
sound and vigorous, other things being equal, 
so will be the offspring. If the former have 
been afflicted with disease or physical imperfec- 
tion, so will be many of the latter. 

(jOne of the most prolific sources of mental 
unsoundness or imperfection, is the existence of 
insanityW remarkable eccentricity^in some pre- 
vious generation. No fact in nature is better 
established than this, — that a large proportion 
of the offspring of persons who have been insane [ 
or highly eccentric at some time or other,\kecome 
insane or eccentric to a degree little short of in- 
sanity^/ In every hospital for the insane, it will 
be found that &t least one half the patients are 
of this descriptions; and there can be no doubt, 
if the history of the other half were better 
known, that this proportion would be greatly 
raised*! Seldom does it happen that this infirm- 
ity of the fathers fails altogether to be visited 
upon the children. It may skip over a whole 
generation, and make its appearance in the next. 
It may be gross eccentricity in the parent, and 
overt, unmistakable derangement in the descend- 
ant ; and vice versa. The predisposition may 
be transmitted irrespective of other parental 



CEREBRAL CONDITIONS. 19 

qualities ; and the child who bears the features 
exclusively of the father may inherit the mother's 
tendency to disease. It may strike down its 
victim in the freshness and vigor of youth ; it 
may wait until the mind has stood many a 
shock and passed through many a trial. 

To those who are yet to form the most im- 
portant of all connections in life, the facts here 
stated speak in tones of solemn admonition, 
warning them, by all their hopes of domestic 
happiness, against disregarding a law which 
carries with it such fearful penalties. The high- 
est mental and personal accomplishments will 
prove to be no compensation for the evil ; nor 
will they furnish any excuse for compromising 
the welfare of those who derive from us their 
existence. None but they who have a profes- 
sional acquaintance with the subject can con- 
ceive of the amount of wretchedness in the 
world produced by this single cause. None can 
adequately estimate the suffering, the privation, 
the ruined hopes, the crushed affections, the 
blighted prospects, that may be fairly numbered 
among its effects. 

The mental constitution may be vitiated by 
the presence in the progenitors of other diseases 
than insanity, especially epilepsy, hysteria, cho- 
rea, scrofula, rickets. This effect may not ap- 
pear in the shape of positive disease, though that 



20 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

is not uncommon. It may often be witnessed 
in a reduction of the moral and intellectual ca- 
pacity, and a remarkable activity and prominence 
of the animal propensities. In persons thus 
affected, the voice of conscience is feeble, the 
restraints of law are powerless, vice is far more 
congenial than virtue, and temptation always 
obtains an easy conquest. The same traits of 
character are not unfrequently witnessed by the 
careful observer of men, in those classes of peo- 
ple who, for several generations, have been ex- 
posed to those physical agencies which, by 
depressing the vital energies and preventing the 
full, rounded development of the system, deteri- 
orate the qualities of the brain. The history of 
the individual will show that these traits are not 
the results of casual circumstances, nor of special 
training, but are of spontaneous growth, and 
but little affected by those benignant influences 
that never fail to improve the character, in some 
degree, in persons of a healthier organization. 
The effect in question has been observed on a 
large scale, in some of the old cities of Europe, 
where the causes are peculiarly active and 
abundant. I The bad air, the excessive cold 
and heat ancl moisture which characterize the 
localities of the # poor, and the lack of nutritious 
food, especially in childhood, not only give rise 
to fever and other epidemics, buo vitiate the very 



CEREBRAL CONDITIONS. 21 

springs of life, andlproduce debility, distortion, 
and unbalanced activity, to be transmitted in 
greater intensity to the offspring. A healthy, 
well-balanced brain, under such circumstances, 
must be the exception, not the rule. As well 
might we look among the growth of a thickly- 
planted grove for the full development and fine 
proportions of the noble tree standing out alone 
upon the lawn, exposed to the air and light of 
heaven, and nourished by a fertile soil. 

These results are still more obvious where 
the low grade of moral and physical endow- 
ment thus produced is accompanied by a ten- 
dency to insanity, derived from progenitors. 
Under such circumstances, the mental deterio- 
ration is characterized by a strong proclivity to 
vice and crime, that cannot be explained by any 
circumstances of education. \ A complete his- 
tory of the inmates of our jails and prisons, 
embracing all their antecedents, would show, in 
regard to a large portion of them, that the active 
element was not immoral training, nor extraor- 
dinary temptations, but defective cerebral en- 
dowment! traceable to the agencies here men- 
tioned. They enter upon life with a cerebral 
organization deficient in those qualities neces- 
sary for the manifestation of the higher mental 
functions. Many of them are bad subjects 



22 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

from the cradle, and their whole life is a series 
of aggressions on their fellow-men. Whether 
they finish their career in a hospital or a prison, is 
a point oftener decided by adventitious circum- 
stances than any definite, well-settled principles. 
The frequency of insanity among convicts in 
prison is, probably, not so much owing to the 
immediate circumstances of their position, as to 
this latent element of mischief in their mental 
constitution, which, no doubt, is rendered more 
active by confinement. 

When the physical defects of the parent are 
entailed upon the offspring in the shape of de- 
formity and disease, they excite no other emo- 
tions than those of pity, and a disposition to re- 
lieve. Without discussing the question, whether 
a person whose heritage of infirmity consists in 
a defective brain should be held to a rigid re- 
sponsibility for the consequences of his misfor- 
tune, rather than regarded with the same emo- 
tions, I -apprehend there can be no diversity of 
opinion as to the importance of the facts in 
• connection with the subject of social morality. 
For the moral and intellectual elevation of the 
race, we are to look, not exclusively to educa- 
tion, but to whatever tends to improve the 
bodily constitution, and especially the qualities 
of the brain. In our schemes of philanthropy, 



CEREBRAL CONDITIONS. 23 

we are apt to deal with men as if they could 
be moulded to any desirable purpose, provided 
only the right instrumentalities are used ; ignor- 
ing altogether the fact, that there is a physical 
organ in the case, whose original endowments 
must limit ^ery strictly the range of our moral 
appliances. f^But while we are bringing to bear 
upon them all the kindly influences of learning 
and religion, let us not overlook those physical 
agencies which determine the efficiency of the 
brain as the material instrument of the mind. 
[The tract and the missionary may do good 
service in the dwellings of the ignorant and 
depraved, but active ventilation, thorough sew- 
erage, abundance of water, will be found, event- 
ually, no less efficient in the work of reform 
and elevation. To check the increase of crime, 
improve, if you please, your penal legislation 
and penal discipline, but, above all things, im- 
prove the dwellings of the poor. \ Render indus- 
try and virtue as attractive as possible, but never 
cease, by all practicable means, to prevent the 
production of tubercle, rickets, scrofula, and all 
defective or unequal developments. LEncourage 
frugality and forecast, but discourage, by every -*' 
consideration that science has furnished, the 
marriage of the infirm, the sickly, and the de- _— - 
formedj 

The great practical neglect of this organic 



^> 



s* 



24 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

law of hereditary transmission, and its recent 
denial in a work of remarkable ability, induce 
us to state very briefly what the doctrine really 
island the evidence on which it rests. 
f The law which pervades the propagation of 
living beings, preserving the unity of the species, 
and setting bounds to accidental or abnormal 
variations, is, that like produces Ii^bJ Thus, 
through successive ages, the characters that 
mark the species are preserved, and the order 
and harmony of nature maintained. But a 
certain amount of variety is not inconsistent 
with harmony, and, therefore, individuals, while 
agreeing in all the characters of the species, 
are distinguished from one another by some 
obvious though subordinate traits of difference. 
In animate objects, perfect identity is no more a 
part of Nature's arrangements than unlimited 
variety. In every individual, therefore, we have 
two different orders of characters ; one which he 
possesses in common with all other individuals 
of his species, and another which are peculiar 
to himself or a few others. That the former are 
preserved by hereditary transmission, of course, 
nobody doubts, and the fact shows the possibil- 
ity, if it does not afford presumptive proof, that 
the latter are governed by the same law. Such, 
certainly, is the ordinary belief, as it regards the 
normal physical traits of family resemblance, 



CEREBRAL CONDITIONS. 25 

but it is now contended that moral and intel- 
lectual qualities, and even diseases or tenden- 
cies to disease, are not so transmitted, — that, 
when possessed by both parent and offspring, 
the coincidence is merely accidental.* This 
view of the subject seems to arise from a mis- 
conception of some of the conditions which at- 
tend the operation of the law. It is alleged that 
if it were one of the laws of generation, that 
the traits in question are transmitted from par- 
ent to offspring, it ought to be a matter of more 
common occurrence ; whereas, instances of this 
kind of resemblance are greatly outnumbered 
by those of diversity. The general fact, certain- 
ly, is true, though not perhaps to the extent here 
implied, but it does not disprove this kind of he- 
reditary transmission. It is no part of the doc- 
trine that such transmission is uniform and uni- 
versal. If it were, we should have equal reason 
to believe that resemblance of physical features, 
form, complexion, countenance, is also acciden- 
tal, because frequently, in these respects, the 
child is quite unlike the parent. Considering 
the tendency of nature to infinite diversity in 
its works, the instances of resemblance that 
do occur, though bearing but a small proportion, 
perhaps, to those of a different character, force 
us to conclude that the coincidence is not acci- 

* Buckle, T., History of Civilization, I. 161. 



26 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

dental, but the result of a general law. Con- 
stant, invariable coincidence could not be 
expected, when we consider that hereditary 
transmission is under the control of a double 
law, whereby the type of the species as well as 
of the family is maintained. Even under the 
widest deviations from the normal type, there is 
ever a tendency to regain the original characters 
of the racej A trait which distinguishes two or 
three successive generations may be scarcely 
observed in the fourth, and finally be lost alto- 
gether. It may appear in one member of the 
family, and be absent from another. A trait 
which distinguishes one generation may be en- 
tirely wanting in the next, and reappear in the 
third. 

There is another reason, and a very efficient 
one, why the peculiarities of the parent should 
not be invariably transmitted to the offspring. 
The child has a double origin, drawing its fam- 
ily traits from two different sources. The man- 
ner in which the two parents are represented in 
the offspring is subject to considerable diversity. 
The peculiar marks of one of them may greatly 
predominate over those of the other, and even 
exclude them altogether; or they may mingle 
together with some approach to equality. The 
parents themselves have inherited the traits of 
their progenitors, which may be more fully 



CEREBRAL CONDITIONS. 27 

evolved in their offspring than in themselves, 
and thus the child is made to represent many 
individuals besides the immediate authors of its 
being. Thus it is, that the complete transmis- 
sion of the peculiarities of the two parents is 
simply impossible ; and the happy consequence 
of such extensive intermixture in the product 
of generation is, that peculiarities — especially 
those of a morbid or abnormal character — are 
finally absorbed in the characters that constitute 
the type of the species. 

Against the doctrine of the hereditary character 
of some diseases, it is objected that the legiti- 
mate effect of such an organic law would be to 
deteriorate the human constitution, until every 
trace of its original stamina shall have disap- 
peared. Of course, the same disease is often 
seen in both parent and child, but this is re- 
garded as only a casual concidence. This ob- 
jection is founded upon a very incorrect idea of 
the laws of hereditary transmission, as might be 
inferred from the statement at the close of the 
last paragraph. The transmission of disease is 
modified by the same class of agencies as the 
transmission of feature, or temperament, or com- 
plexion. We have no more right to expect that 
the insanity, or scrofula, or hare-lip of the parent 
should be transmitted to every one of his chil- 
dren, than we have to expect that a prominent 



28 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

chin, or a large frame, or a dark complexion 
should be thus transmitted. The tendency, al- 
ready spoken of, to regain the normal type after 
the most considerable deviations, is even more 
obvious in the case of disease and anomalous 
formation than in that of ordinary peculiarities. 
Besides, we are to recollect that it is not neces- 
sarily the disease which is transmitted, but only 
the predisposition to disease, and this, owing to 
some fortunate conjunction of circumstances, 
may never be developed into overt disease. Two 
brothers, for instance, may have inherited a ten- 
dency to insanity. One is exposed to circum- 
stances that try the mental energies beyond the 
power of endurance, and he becomes insane. 
The other pursues the voyage of life on a tran- 
quil sea, with favoring gales, and thus avoids 
altogether the impending blow. True, instances 
where the disease of the child has apparently 
been derived from the parent, may be perhaps 
outnumbered by those where there has obviously 
been no such transmission. But this would not 
help the objection, unless we alleged that the 
diseases in question had no other origin than 
that of hereditary transmission. They may be 
derived from the parent, or from agencies that 
supervened subsequent to birth. These two 
different orders of fact are not incompatible, as 
all the analogies of nature show. CTo deny the 



CEREBRAL CONDITIONS. 29 

hereditary character of some diseases, merely 
because they are not always hereditary, is no 
better philosophy than it would be to believe 
that scarlatina, typhus, measles, glanders, are 
never contagious because by the side of cases 
which seem to have originated in contagion are 
many that cannot be traced to this cause/ 

That the soundness and vigor of the human 
constitution are greatly impaired by the here- 
ditary transmission of disease can scarcely be 
doubted by those who have been much conver- 
sant with the subject, and though any approach 
to thorough and universal deterioration has been 
avoided by that beneficent law whereby the 
normal type of the species prevails sooner or 
later, under favorable circumstances, over all 
casual deviations, yet the evil is serious and ex- 
tensive enough, it might be supposed, to induce 
the wise and prudent, if no others, to avoid the 
causes which produce it. 

Let us, however, avoid the common error of 
supposing that under the law of hereditary trans- 
mission the abnormal trait of the parent, and 
that only, is exactly repeated in the offspring. 
The only essential element of the hereditary act 
is defect, deterioration, or vitiated quality of the 
brain. What phasis it may finally assume, de- 
pends on conditions beyond the reach of our 
knowledge. We might as well expect to see 



30 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFEECTED BY 

the eyes or the nose, the figure or the motions 
of either parent transmitted with the exactest 
likeness to all the offspring, as to suppose that an 
hereditary disease must necessarily be transmit- 
ted fully formed, with all the incidents and con- 
ditions which it possessed in the parent. And 
yet in the case of mental disease, the current 
philosophy can recognize the evidence of trans- 
mission in no shape less demonstrative than de- 
lusion or raving. Contrary to all analogy and 
contrary to all fact, it supposes that the heredi- 
tary affection must appear in the offspring in 
precisely the same degree of intensity which it 
had in the parent. If the son is stricken down 
with raving mania, like his father before him, 
then the relation of cause and effect is obvious 
enough ; but if, on the contrary, the former ex- 
hibits only extraordinary outbreaks of passion, 
remarkable inequalities of spirit and disposition, 
irrelevant and inappropriate conduct, strange 
and unaccountable impulses, nothing of this 
kind is charged to the parental infirmity. Such 
views are not warranted by the present state 
of our knowledge respecting the hereditary 
transmission of disease. 

There is a phasis of hereditary transmission, 
which it may be well to advert to, because though 
not very uncommon it is far from being properly 
understood. The transmitted defect is confined 



CEREBRAL CONDITIONS. 31 

to a very circumscribed range, beyond which the 
mind presents no obvious impairment. The 
sound and the unsound coexist, not in a state of 
fusion, but side by side, each independent of the 
other, and both derived from a common source. 
And the fact is no more anomalous than that of- 
ten witnessed, of some striking feature of one 
parent associated in the child with one equally 
striking of the other. It is not the case exactly, 
of partial insanity, or any mental defect, superin- 
duced upon a mind otherwise sound, for such de- 
fect is, in some degree, an accident, and may 
disappear ; but here is a congenital conjunction 
of sanity and insanity, which no medical or 
moral appliances will ever remove. These per- 
sons may get on very well in their allotted part, 
and even achieve distinction, while the insane 
element is often cropping out in the shape of ex- 
travagancies or irregularities of thought or ac- 
tion, which, according to the stand-point they are 
viewed from, are regarded as gross eccentricity, 
or undisciplined powers, or downright insanity. 
For every manifestation of this kind they may 
show no lack of plausible reasons, calculated to 
mislead the superficial observer ; but still the fact 
remains that these traits, which are never wit- 
nessed in persons of well-balanced minds, are a 
part of their habitual character. When persons 
of this description possess a high order of intel- 



32 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

lectual endowments, the unhealthy element of- 
ten seems to impart force and piquancy to their 
mental manifestations, and thus increases the 
embarrassment touching the true character of 
their mental constitution. When the defect ap- 
pears in the reflective powers, it is regarded as 
insanity by many who would give it a very differ- 
ent name were it confined to the emotions and 
feelings. But the man who goes through life 
creditably performing his part, though oscillating 
between the two states of excessive depression 
and excessive exhilaration, is as clearly under 
the influence of disease as if he believed in im- 
aginary plots and conspiracies against his prop- 
erty or person. In neither case is he completely 
overborne by the force of the strange impression, 
but passes along, to all appearance, much like 
other men. Insane, in the popular acceptation, 
he certainly is not ; but it is equally certain that 
his mind is not in a healthy condition. Lord 
Byron was one of the class in question, and the 
fact gives us a clue to the anomalies of his char- 
acter. His mother was subject to violent out- 
breaks of passion, not unlike those often wit- 
nessed in the insane. On the paternal side his 
case was scarcely better. The loose principles, 
the wild and reckless conduct of his father, pro- 
cured for him the nickname of " Mad Jack By- 
ron" ; and his grand-uncle, who killed his neigh- 



CEREBRAL CONDITIONS. 33 

bor in a duel, exhibited traits not very charac- 
teristic of a healthy mind. "With such antece- 
dents, it is not strange that he was subject to 
wild impulses, violent passions, baseless preju- 
dices, uncompromising selfishness, irregular men- 
tal activity. The morbid element in his nervous 
system was also witnessed in the form of epi- 
lepsy, from which he suffered, more or less, dur- 
ing his whole life. The " vile melancholy " which 
Dr. Johnson inherited from his father, and which, 
to use his own expression, " made him mad all 
his life, at least, not sober," never perverted the 
exercise of his intellectual powers. He heard 
the voice of his distant mother calling " Sam " ; 
he was bound to touch every post he passed in 
the streets ; he astonished people by his extraor- 
dinary singularities ; and much of his time was 
spent in the depths of mental distress ; yet the 
march of his intellect, steady, uniform, and 
measured, gave no token of confusion or weak- 
ness. 

In common life this kind of mental dualism is 
not unfrequent, though generally regarded as 
anomalous and unaccountable, rather than the 
result of an organic law. In some, the morbid 
element, without affecting the keenness of the 
intellect, intrudes itself on all occasions and 
characterizes the ways and manners, the de- 
meanor and deportment. Under the influence 
3 



34 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

of peculiarly adverse circumstances, they are li- 
able to lose the unsteady balance between the 
antagonistic forces of their mental nature, to 
conduct as if unquestionably insane, and to be 
treated accordingly. Of such, the remark is al- 
ways made by the world, which sees no nice dis- 
tinctions, " If he is insane now, he was always 
insane." According as the one or the other 
phasis of their mind is exclusively regarded, they 
are accounted by some as always crazy, by oth- 
ers as uncommonly shrewd and capable. 

In some persons the morbid element appears 
in the shape of insensibility to nice moral dis- 
tinctions. Their perception of them at all seems 
to be the result of imitation rather than instinct. 
With them, circumstances determine everything 
as to the moral complexion of their career in 
life. Whether they leave behind them a reputa- 
tion for flagrant selfishness, meanness, and dis- 
honesty, or for a commendable prudence and 
judicious regard for self, — whether they always 
keep within the precincts of a decent respect- 
ability, or run into disreputable courses, — de- 
pends mostly on chance and fortune. This inti- 
mate association of the saint and the sinner in 
the same individual, common as it is, is a stum- 
bling-block to moralists and legislators. The ab- 
normal element is entirely overlooked, or rather, 
is confounded with that kind of moral depravity 



CEREBRAL CONDITIONS. 35 

which comes from vicious training. The dis- 
tinction is not always very easily made ; for 
though sufficient light on this point may often 
be derived from the antecedents of the individ- 
uals, yet it is impossible, occasionally, to remove 
the obscurity in which it is involved. However 
this may be, it is a warrantable inference from 
the results of modern inquiry, that the class of 
cases is not a small one, where the person com- 
mits a criminal act, or falls into vicious habits, 
with a full knowledge of the nature and conse- 
quences of his conduct, and prompted, perhaps, 
by the ordinary inducements to vice, who, nev- 
ertheless, might have been a shining example of 
virtue, had the morbid element in his cerebral or- 
ganism been left out. In our rough estimates 
of responsibility this goes for nothing, like the 
untoward influences of education; and it could 
not well be otherwise, though it cannot be denied 
that one element of moral responsibility, namely, 
the wish and the power to pursue the right and 
avoid the wrong, is greatly defective. 

There is another phasis of cerebral defect not 
very unlike the last, which of late years has been 
occurring with increasing frequency, embarrass- 
ing our courts, confounding the wise and the 
simple, and overwhelming respectable families 
with shame and sorrow. With an intellect un- 
warped by the slightest excitement or delusion, 



36 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

and with many moral traits, it may be, calculated 
to please and to charm, its subjects are irresisti- 
bly impelled to some particular form of crime. 
With more or less effort perhaps they strive 
against it, and when they yield their conduct is 
as much a mystery to themselves as to others. 

From what has been stated, it may be inferred 
that we are not yet acquainted with all the con- 
ditions of hereditary transmission, and therefore 
we should not too readily be shaken in our be- 
lief of the general fact, by those incidents which 
seem to indicate a violation of its known laws. 
Among the lower animals, as well as the human 
races, individuals of extraordinary excellence oc- 
casionally appear under circumstances which 
render their appearance seemingly fortuitous. 
They are neither preceded nor succeeded by in- 
dividuals of remarkable endowments, and they 
come and go like many other happy accidents of 
nature that defy even a plausible explanation. 
The parents of Shakespeare, of Milton, of Scott, 
were indifferent persons, and their descendants 
were scarcely distinguished from the multitude 
around them. So too those heroes of the turf, 
the Eclipses, the Highflyers, the Flying Ghilders, 
stand alone, scarcely sharing their fame with 
any of kindred blood. When this subject comes 
to be fully understood, it will be seen that these 
apparent anomalies result from the action of 



CEREBRAL CONDITIONS. 37 

laws as precise and inflexible as those by which 
the features of the child are assimilated to those 
of the parent. In regard to many of the phe- 
nomena of life, no one doubts that they are gov- 
erned by laws, while no one undertakes to say 
what these laws are. For instance, the difference 
of sex, and the proportion in point of numbers 
existing between the two, we believe to be gov- 
erned by laws, and none the less confidently, be- 
cause they have completely eluded the researches 
of philosophers. Thus, while we are unable to 
account for the production of those isolated gen- 
iuses who have enlarged our conceptions of the 
human capacity, we are not obliged to abate one 
jot of our conviction, that, in a very great degree, 
the most remarkable endowments, wherever ex- 
isting, are determined by the laws of hereditary 
transmission. 

A not infrequent cause of mental deterio- 
ration is the intermarriage of blood relations. 
The great physiological law, that like produces 
like, depends upon this condition, that the par- 
ents shall not be nearly allied by blood. In 
the domestic animals, neglect of this condition 
is soon followed by deterioration, and if con- 
tinued through several generations, the original 
good qualities of the breed disappear alto- 
gether. In man this effect is less obvious, par- 
ties often escaping any apparent penalty, even 



38 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

when the law is violated in two successive gen- 
erations. But it is common enough and severe 
enough to render infractions of the law fearfully- 
hazardous. Its existence has been denied on 
the strength of some limited statistics, but the 
stern facts on the subject are too numerous to 
be accidental, and it must be our own fault if 
we do not heed the lesson which they* teach. 
Because the physical qualities of the parents are 
occasionally too prominent and too well estab- 
lished to be materially vitiated by a single in- 
fringement of the law, and the first impression 
is not enforced and reduplicated by repetitions 
of the infringement, men are disposed to believe 
that they have committed no transgression ! 

Within a few years past, the physiological 
effects upon the offspring, of marriages in con- 
sanguinity have been carefully investigated by 
Devay, Perrin, Meniere, and others, in France, 
and Bemiss and Howe in this country. These 
inquiries show, among these effects, an extraor- 
dinary proportion of disease and imperfection 
in the shape of insanity, idiocy, epilepsy, blind- 
ness, deaf-mutism, and sterility. From 24 to 30 
per cent, of all the pupils in the institutions of 
France for deaf mutes are the offspring of such 
marriages, and many of them left a deaf mute 
brother or sister at home. Dr. Howe collected the 
statistics of seventeen marriages in consanguin- 



CEREBRAL CONDITIONS. 39 

ity, from which it appears that of the ninety-five 
children which proceeded from them, forty-four 
were idiots, twelve scrofulous and delicate, one 
deaf, and one a dwarf. Dr. Bemiss has col- 
lated the results of eight hundred and thirty- 
three consanguineous marriages, reported by 
himself and others, from which proceeded thirty- 
nine hundred and forty-two children. Of these, 
one hundred and forty-five were deaf mutes, 
eighty-five blind, three hundred and eight idiotic, 
thirty-eight insane, sixty epileptic, three hundred 
scrofulous, ninety-eight deformed, and one hun- 
dred defective in one way or another. 

In persons of a feeble capacity, and especial- 
ly such as have some tendency to disease, the evil 
in question is more likely to follow ; and cases of 
this kind are not rare in the experience of those 
much conversant with mental disorders. The 
operation of the law may be always witnessed in 
families which, for one reason or another, have 
formed their matrimonial alliances within them- 
selves for many generations. I could mention a 
community where, for the purpose of keeping 
property together, marriages between near rela- 
tions have been frequent, in which the remark- 
able prevalence of insanity and other disorders 
and imperfections supposed to be incident to 
such connections, has arrested the attention of 
the most superficial observers. Many of my 



40 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

readers, no doubt, can call to mind similar cases. 
In the royal houses of Spain, Portugal, and Aus- 
tria, this is the worm that gnawed at the root of 
their strength, and brought on debility and decay. 
The elder members were the marked men of 
their times, distinguished by their physical and 
mental endowments. In almost every marriage 
among their descendants the parties had more 
or less of common blood, and the result is 
plainly written in the history of Europe during 
the last hundred years. 

The remarkable difference exhibited by com- 
munities not very different in other respects, in 
the amount of insanity and other mental infirm- 
ities, exemplifies another phasis of cerebral de- 
terioration. It may be doubted whether, in this 
country even, where the mingling of common 
blood in the matrimonial connection is more 
frequent than is generally supposed, any other 
agency whatever has had more to do with the 
prevalence of insanity and idiocy than this. In 
many of our small, secluded towns, one has 
only to cast his eye over the list of voters sus- 
pended in the bar-room of the tavern, or by the 
church-door, to see how large a proportion of 
the people is embraced in a few leading names 
seldom met with anywhere else. This naturally 
implies a good deal of intermarriage, and an ex- 
tensive infusion of common blood. 



CEREBRAL CONDITIONS. 41 

The fact furnishes a clew to an explanation of 
another order of facts which have caused some 
speculation both here and abroad. JThe general 
impression has been that mental disease is more 
rife in commercial and manufacturing commu- 
nities, where reverses are more common and the 
mind is subjected to a greater tension, than in 
agricultural communities, where life flows on in a 
more uniform current. The theory is plausible, 
but not sustained by facts?} The circumstances 
supposed have much to do, no doubt, with de- 
termining the mental condition of the people, 
but a little inquiry will show us that there is 
another agent more potent than these, and one 
whose power is more felt in the country than in 
populous cities and mushroom villages. The 
statistics of insanity in Massachusetts, collected 
in 1854, by Dr. Edward Jarvis, by order of the 
Legislature, show very clearly the absence of 
any connection between the disease and the 
pursuits of the people. Looking over the re- 
turns from the counties of Essex, Middlesex, 
Worcester, and Suffolk, we find that two of 
them have more, and two less than the average 
amount of insanity in the whole State ; and 
yet, in point of mental stir and excitement, they 
are, probably, very nearly alike. The rural 
counties show the same want of uniformity; 
while, taken together, they can claim no advan- 



42 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

tage in regard to the point in question over the 
maritime counties. The mountain breezes of 
Berkshire and the quiet pursuits of its people 
seem to be no more conducive to mental integ- 
rity than the chilling winds of Essex, Suffolk, 
and Plymouth^, &nd the changing fortunes of 
their people. J It also appears that the principal 
manufacturing places^Lowell, Lawrence, Wor- 
cester, Lynn, Taunton, Fall River, Waltham, 
Milford, Palmer, Fitchburg, and Blackstone, 
with an aggregate population of 154,975, have 
221 insane persons, or 1 in 701 j j whereas in the 
counties of Berkshire, Hampshire, and Frank- 
lin, with a population of 122,730, less change- 
able than any other in the State, we find 472 
insane persons, or 1 in 258. No State in the 
Union, probably, has so large a proportion of 
insanity as Massachusetts, and no other has so 
large a proportion of old communities. A sim- 
ilar class of facts was observed by Her Majesty's 
commissioners appointed in 1855 to inquire into 
the state of lunatic asylums in Scotland. They 
say in their Report, that " in those counties where 
thought most stagnates, a large proportion of 
the cases of mental disease is due to congenital 
causes. The population, unaffected by extrane- 
ous influences, intermarry among themselves, 
and the hereditary taint which is thus engen- 
dered, shows itself unmistakably in the large 



CEREBRAL CONDITIONS. 43 

proportion of idiots and imbeciles." They com- 
pare the statistics of mental disease in the re- 
mote counties with those of the southern coun- 
ties, " where the mental powers have been more 
called into action, and intermarriage is less fre- 
quent, and the result is, that a Highland popula- 
tion contains more than three times the number 
of congenital cases of mental disease found in 
an equal Lowland population ; and that the 
difference becomes much greater if the compari- 
son be confined to single counties of the two 
series." Here the cause of the disproportion is 
distinctly alleged, and it seems to be a fair con- 
clusion that there is a more potent agency in 
the production of mental disease than the in- 
dustrial pursuits of the people, — one which 
vitiates the physical qualities of the race in 
the very germs of life. If this view is correct, 
it explains a fact in the history of mental dis- 
ease, which has always been a matter of sur- 
prise. I refer to the large number of cases 
which cannot be attributed to any particular 
cause or concurrence of causes. The disease 
takes place as if it were the natural result of 
the development of the individual, — the opera- 
tion, it may be, of that great organic law which 
forbids the union of offspring from a common 
stock, by the penalty of disease and deteriora- 
tion. 



44 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

Another potent agency in vitiating the quality 
of the brain is habitual intemperance, and the 
effect is far oftener witnessed in the offspring 
than in the drunkard himself, j His habits may 
induce an attack of insanity, where the predis- 
position exists ; but he generally escapes with 
nothing worse than the loss of some of his nat- 
ural vigor and hardihood of mind. In the off- 
spring, however, on whom the consequences of 
the parental vice may be visited, to the third if 
not the fourth generation, the cerebral disorder 
may take the form of intemperance, or idiocy, 
or insanity, or vicious habits, or impulses to 
crime, or some minor mental obliquities. 

The frequency with which intemperance is 
witnessed, both in parent and child, has come 
to be regarded not as a matter of accident mere- 
ly, but as the result of hereditary cerebral defect. 
There have been cases enough the circumstances 
of which excluded the influence of vicious ex- 
ample and training, and rendered no other expla- 
nation possible but this. The reader will, no 
doubt, readily recur to examples of the saddest 
kind that have fallen under his own observa- 
tion. 

As a cause of idiocy in the next succeeding 
generation, the potency of gross intemperance 
has been placed beyond a doubt. Dr. S. G. 
Howe, who once thoroughly investigated the 






CEREBRAL CONDITIONS. 45 

antecedents of a great many cases of idiocy, 
came to the conclusion that, ; - directly or indi- 
rectly, alcohol is productive of a great propor- 
tion of the idiocy which now burdens the Com- 
monwealth of Massachusetts. n * 

The transmitted effect of intemperance may 
also appear in the form of a propensity to vicious 
courses, or a dulness of moral perception, or 
irresistible impulses to crime. One child may 
exhibit one or more of these traits, and another 
may be insane or idiotic, the former no less than 
the latter manifesting the legitimate effects of 
the parent's vice. The inmates of our peniten- 
tiaries, whose history is thoroughly known, pre- 
sent many examples of the operation of this 
pathological law. 

There is this curious feature of the deteriorat- 
ing influence of intemperance, that its primary 
effect is not always persistent, but may be re- 
moved by removing the cause. In the Report 
of the hospital at Columbus. Ohio, for 1861, the 
physician, Dr. Hills, says of one of his patients, 
that his father, in the first part of his married 
life, was strictly temperate, ;t and had four chil- 
dren, all yet remaining healthy and sound. 
From reverses of fortune, he became discour- 
aged and intemperate for some years, having in 

* Report made to the Legislature of Massachusetts on Idiocy, 
p. S3. 



46 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

this period four children, two of whom we had 
now received into the asylum ; a third one was 
idiotic, and the fourth epileptic. He then re- 
formed in habits, had three more children, all 
now grown to maturity, and to this period re- 
maining sound and healthy." Another similar 
case follows. An intemperate parent had four 
children, two of whom became insane, one was 
an idiot, and the fourth died young, in fits. 
Four children born previous to the period of in- 
temperance, and two after the parent's reforma- 
tion, are all sound and healthy. 

Another very important condition requisite to 
the highest degree of mental health and vigor is 
that of a healthy, vigorous body. There are 
people in the world, even in this age of enlighten- 
ment, who believe, or act as if they believed, that 
there is no necessary connection between these 
two things. In all matters of education and 
hygiene, they practically regard the mind as per- 
fectly independent of the body. Indeed, they 
seem to look upon bodily imperfections as actu- 
ally favorable to mental activity and vigor, for 
the same reason, I suppose, that the blind are 
known to acquire uncommon acuteness of hear- 
ing and touch. It has been one of the tradi- 
tionary customs of our country, not entirely ex- 
tinct yet, to select from the sons of the family 
the feeble, sickly youth, apparently incapable of 



CEREBRAL CONDITIONS. 47 

earning his living by the sweat of his brow, to 
be the favored recipient of an education that will 
fit him to live by his wits. To this custom, ap- 
parently, one of our greatest men — great at the 
bar, in the senate, in the cabinet — was indebted 
for that change of destiny which produced such 
magnificent results, though in his case there was 
less reason for the change than was apprehend- 
ed, "We meet with instances, no doubt, that 
seem to support the popular view — of feeble, 
perhaps sickly, bodies associated with strong and 
capacious minds. Such cases, however, are but 
exceptions to the general rule, and we never can 
be sure that the mental efficiency would not 
have been considerably increased had the physi- 
cal condition been of a healthier character. Men 
of superior cultivation and energy of will may 
rise above the enervating influence of bodily in- 
firmity, and, though scarcely a day exempt from 
pain, move along in their accustomed course, 
challenging the admiration of the world by the 
steadiness of their application and the brilliancy 
of their achievements] 

No one can be insensible to the moral gran- 
deur of such triumphs of mind over matter, as 
were exemplified in Pascal, who, while tortured 
with infirmities that embittered his existence, and 
hallucinations that destroyed his peace of mind, 
launched upon the world that imperishable model 



48 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

of wit, raillery, and eloquence, the Provincial 
Letters; in Cowper, surrounded nearly all his 
life by clouds and darkness, but achieving an 
honorable place in the literature of his country; 
in Robert Hall, while writing those sermons 
which electrified the public mind of England, in 
the intervals between paroxysms of the severest 
bodily anguish ; in Channing, never faltering in 
his chosen work of elevating the purposes and 
sentiments of his age, though under the unceas- 
ing pressure of ill-health, if not positive pain. 
Seldom, however, is bodily ailment met by such 
indomitable power of resistance. Its usual ef- 
fect, especially in persons of moderate capacity, 
is to embarrass the action of the mind, to enfeeble 
its conceptions, to diminish its power of appli- 
cation, to quench its aspirations, and shut out 
the blessed sunshine which never entirely ceases 
to gild the prospects of the mortal who rejoices 
in the buoyant sensations of sound health. In 
those who are habitually ailing, all the surplus 
energy is needed to meet the demands of the 
suffering organs. Starting from the seat of the 
disease, a host of abnormal impressions crowd 
on the mind, distracting its attention from all 
higher contemplations, and concentrating its 
thoughts and cares and interests upon the pres- 
ent moment. In most men, neither philosophy 
nor religion can place the mind at ease and 



CEREBRAL CONDITIONS. 49 

ready for intellectual effort, when consumption 
is wasting the vital energies, or dyspepsia is 
sharpening the sensibility of every nerve, or 
hypochondria is filling the soul with dismal ap- 
prehensions. In such circumstances the largest 
intellect may be engrossed with trifles, and the 
most benevolent heart may overflow with gall 
and bitterness. The pleasurable emotions that 
arise from mental occupation are replaced by 
pain or ennui ; the ordinary inducements to ef- 
fort utterly fail ; social intercourse, even, loses its 
charms, and life itself may become a cheerless 
waste in which man delighteth not, nor woman 
neither. Johnson has touchingly described — 
probably from experience — the condition of a 
" man of an active and elevated mind, laboring 
under the weight of a distempered body." " The 
time of such a man," he says, " fumes away in 
projects and in hope, and the day of action 
never comes. He lies down delighted with the 
thoughts of to-morrow, pleases his ambition with 
the fame he shall acquire, or his benevolence 
with the good he shall confer : but in the night, 
the skies are overcast, the temperature of the 
air is changed ; he awakes in languor, impa- 
tience, and distraction ; and has no longer any 
wish but for ease, nor any attention but to mis- 
ery." "With reason, then, did an eminent writer 
say, " The heir of a sound constitution has no 

4 



50 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

right to regret the absence of any other patri- 
mony. A man who has derived from the imme- 
diate authors of his being vigorous and un- 
tainted stamina of mind as well as of body, 
enters upon the world with a sufficient founda- 
tion and ample materials for happiness." * 

Very few of those men who have achieved 
great intellectual renown, suffered much from 
ill-health. The distinguished names in English 
literature, for instance, belonged for the most 
part to sound, strong, healthy men ; and it was 
by reason of their being sound, strong, and 
healthy, that they accomplished what they did. 
Newton went through his course of mathemat- 
ical investigation, undisturbed by a single day 
of sickness ; and if subsequently, under exces- 
sive application and loss of sleep, his majestic 
intellect passed under a cloud, it shortly emerged 
from it in all its original brightness. Bacon, by 
means of a robust and hardy constitution, was 
able, in addition to professional duties which 
would have been quite enough for most men, to 
engage in a course of philosophical inquiry that 
laid anew the very foundations of human knowl- 
edge. That nice discernment of character which 
has made Shakespeare the poet of all times and 
of all people, could have sprung only from per- 
ceptions never clouded nor distorted by the mor- 

* Dr. Eeid ; Hypochondriacal and other Nervous Affections. 



CEREBRAL CONDITIONS. 51 

bid influences of poor health. Burke, who, from 
first to last, in one way or another, accomplished 
an amount and a kind of intellectual effort that 
have placed him in the foremost rank of great 
men, scarcely lost a day by sickness, until the 
period of his breaking up. Walter Scott was 
sustained in his career, than which the annals of 
literature can show none more brilliant, by the 
energies of a frame well-fitted by nature, and 
trained by daily habits of exercise and recrea- 
tion, for remarkable power of endurance. 

It may be also said of men engaged in the 
active business of life, that the highest degree of 
health is necessary to insure the most complete 
and satisfactory result. Countless examples 
might be adduced from among those whose 
names are written on the page of history, to 
show how much they were indebted for their 
distinction to good health. The two great war- 
riors of our age, for instance, owed their success, 
not more to extraordinary mental abilities than 
to the vigor of their bodily powers, which sup- 
ported those abilities under the severest toil and 
sacrifice. The rest and recreation which Wel- 
lington craved amid the fatigues of the camp 
was to follow the hounds ; and, after spending 
the day in earnestly watching the movements of 
a hostile army, he could retire to his tent and 
write a masterly memoir on the project of estab- 



52 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

lishing a national bank in Portugal. The Her- 
culean labors of Napoleon in the closet as well 
as the field, in bringing the forces of nature and 
the wills of men into his marvellous combina- 
tions, and personally directing the affairs of an 
immense empire, required an iron frame and 
nerves beyond the reach of fatigue. Once he 
suffered from the frailties of the flesh, and on 
that occasion he met his first decisive check. 
On the fruitless field of Borodino, where his fate 
depended upon the result, he remained far in the 
rear, dull and dejected, learning the progress of 
the battle without interest or emotion. He was 
exhausted by fatigue and anxiety, he had taken 
a severe cold over night, and on that day he had 
an attack of an eminently painful disease. In 
short, in any sphere of life where mental activity 
is required, the highest measure of success can 
seldom be expected by those who suffer from 
habitual infirmity of bodyA The world is full 
of melancholy illustrations of this position. The 
genius that has been nipped in the bud, the tal- 
ents that have been paralyzed, the plans that 
have been defeated, the hopes that have been 
destroyed, by disordered health, — who can esti- 
mate their amount! The youth who escapes 
from the perils of early life with the powers of 
his constitution unimpaired, succumbs in early 
manhood, just as society is reckoning upon a 



CEREBRAL CONDITIONS. 53 

brilliant career of usefulness and distinction ; 
and the full-grown adult, who has given the 
world assurance of a man, is cut down in a 
green old age, perhaps in the midst of unfinished 
performances. 

The amount of mental power which has thus 
been destroyed is infinitely greater, no doubt, 
than that which has been suffered to work out 
its destined purpose, enforced fey the sustain- 
ing influences of sound health.! Although the 
rate of mortality has been steadily declining, 
yet it is no less true that disease and infirm- 
ity were never more prevalent in the civil- 
ized world than at the present day. Few, 
indeed, but medical men, are aware of the 
appalling magnitude of the evil. Those who 
are aware of it seem to be led by its very 
magnitude to believe that it is something inev- 
itable, a part of the ordinary routine of nature ; 
as if infirmity and disease were the rule and 
good health the exception./ Indeed, there is 
much reason for such a belief. "Who can find 
among his acquaintances a single family every 
member of which has enjoyed uninterrupted 
health for half a dozen years together ? It was 
not always so. The time has been when men, 
ay, and women, after weathering the usual dis- 
eases of childhood, passed on to a ripe old age. 
scarcely making the acquaintance of the phy- 



54 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

sician, and meeting no token of mortality more 
significant than an occasional cold, or, possibly, 
an attack of fever. Those much-enduring men 
and women who encountered the privations of 
the colonial times have been succeeded by a 
race incapable of their toil and exposure, whom 
the winds of heaven cannot visit too roughly 
without leaving behind the seeds of dissolution. 
It would be inconsistent with my present pur- 
pose to inquire how it happens that a people 
suffering as little as any the evils incident to the 
extremes of social condition, should nevertheless 
be characteristically prone to every form of men- 
tal and bodily ailment, but the fact is sufficiently 
important to deserve a thorough investigation. 
I can notice it only as one among the most 
efficient causes of insanity in this country ; and 
so well is this fact recognized by those who have 
charge of hospitals for the insane, that wherever 
the causes of the disease are given, ill-health 
predominates over every other in the number of 
its victims. By far the larger portion is contrib- 
uted by the female sex, whose ill-health gener- 
ally implies a state of nervous exhaustion and 
enfeeblement produced by excessive labor and 
trial, in a constitution endowed by nature with 
little power of enduranceJ Of course, the evil 
is chiefly confined to those classes of women 
whose duties require a considerable amount of 



CEREBRAL CONDITIONS. 55 

hard work, or excessive application to the lighter 
forms of labor. In the married state, the laud- 
able ambition of showing a house and family 
distinguished by all the indications of good 
management, induces them to labor beyond their 
strength, while little or nothing is done towards 
restoring it by suitable relaxation. The cares of 
an increasing family, without increasing pecuni- 
ary means, seem to forbid the slightest rest from 
the daily routine of toil : their duties are all 
within doors, in overheated apartments, while a 
certain regard for appearances, and a perpetual 
straining after a higher social sphere, give rise to 
an uneasy, if not repining state of mind. At 
last, the appetite fails, the nervous system be- 
comes irritable under the slightest impression, 
the sleep is diminished, the tiesh reduced, and 
the mind depressed by unaccountable gloom and 
apprehension. From this to unequivocal insan- 
ity, the transition is only a matter of time. With 
the corresponding classes of the old world, it is 
all very different. They work hard and fare 
hard, it is true : but they start with a stronger 
constitution: they are much in the open air: 
they live on plain food : and move in a social 
sphere that bounds all their wishes and aspira- 
tions. 

Besides an effect so severe and striking as that 
of actual disease, it can scarcely be questioned 



56 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

that an evil so prevalent and powerful as this 
exerts considerable influence on the mental char- 
acter of the people. Such, I believe to be the 
case, for the proofs of it are too many and too 
strong to escape the intelligent observer. We 
may see one of them in the increasing fondness 
for light reading, especially for such as is ad- 
dressed to the emotions and passions. It is 
lamentable how many persons capable of better 
things read only for amusement, with no wish 
to gain information, or enjoy the higher charms 
of literature. They share the opinion of the 
poet Gray, who could conceive of no greater 
luxury, he said, than to " lie on a sofa all day 
and read eternal new novels of Marivaux and 
Crebillon." This wretched taste is confined to 
no particular class. Once, the yellow-covered 
literature, as it is called, was to be found only 
on railroads and steamboats, and, in corporal 
dimensions, seldom exceeded the modest limits 
of a pamphlet. Within a few years it has 
greatly enlarged its pretensions, and become an 
institution of the times. It has swelled into the 
more respectable dimensions of the duodecimo 
and octavo ; it rejoices in all the attractions 
which the printer and engraver can give it ; it 
forms the staple of the circulating library; it has 
secured a place upon the centre-table ; and claims 
a notice from the reviews. The aim of this class 



CEREBRAL CONDITIONS. 67 

of books is to kindle strange emotions ; they 
display the morbid anatomy of the passions ; 
and their tendency is to loosen the hold of the 
mind on eternal principles and allow it to wan- 
der on in its dim and perilous way, with no bet- 
ter guide than the allurements of sense or the 
humors of the time. It remains to be explained 
why it is that literature, whose proper function 
is to strengthen the intellectual faculties, to 
quicken the moral perceptions, to widen the field 
of sympathy, to establish the supremacy of the 
higher sentiments, should be made, in this our 
day and generation, to serve a very different 
purpose, — to stimulate a prurient imagination, 
to bring the aspirations and sympathies within 
the circle of an intense selfishness, and substi- 
tute a sickly sentimentality for those sharp 
moral distinctions that spring from true, practi- 
cal, healthy views of life. Some may think it 
a fanciful speculation to suppose that the char- 
acteristic traits of the popular literature may be 
fairly attributed to our extraordinary proneness 
to ill-health. But we instinctively speak of the 
prevalent taste as unhealthy, as if it were the only 
epithet that could suitably express its character, 
and we certainly cannot explain it on any other 
hypothesis. Considering the increase of knowl- 
edge and refinement, and the host of examples 
of whatever is pure and graceful and sublime in 



58 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

English literature, we might have reasonably 
expected a different result. While the cause re- 
mains we shall continue to witness the effect. 
While so large a portion of our people labor 
under a feverish pulse, a disturbed digestion, 
and irritable nerves, there will be, as a natural 
consequence, this craving for an intense and ex- 
citing literature ; and even here we have no ex- 
ception to the prevalent law of demand and 
supply. 

Good health and freedom from morbid tenden- 
cies, important as they certainly are, are not the 
only physical qualities necessary to. the attain- 
ment of the highest degree of mental efficiency. 
The secret of many a man's greatness may be 
found, not in remarkable endowments of mind, 
but in a bodily constitution possessing extraor- 
dinary powers of endurance. This it is, and 
this only, which sustains the industry, the pa- 
tience, the indomitable perseverance, indispen- 
sable to the highest success in many a distin- 
guished career. | Some men there are — their 
number, alas, is small — upon whom no amount 
of mental labor makes any impression, and 
though not particularly careful of themselves, 
they prove to be superior to all the ills of mor- 
tality. No stretch of attention can weary them, 
no degree of application can obscure the clear- 
ness of their conceptions, and no amount of 



CEREBRAL CONDITIONS. 

taskwork can exceed the limits of their endur- 
ance. Without recreation and with stinted rest, 
they work on, scarcely conscious of fatigue, and 
always ready for fresh toil. The same tasks 
which would leave other men exhausted and 
spiritless, seem to impart to them additional 
vigor and elasticity. Year after year they pur- 
sue the same round of unceasing labor, and 
while everybody is predicting premature decay, 
they leave the wrecks of their contemporaries 
behind and flourish on to a ripe old age. They 
are to be found among the generals who have 
pursued an unbroken career of victory ; among 
the statesmen who have controlled the policy of 
nations ; among the mechanics and engineers 
whose conceptions embodied in wood and iron 
have shaped the destiny of the age. It is this 
marvellous constitution alone which makes all 
the difference between men like Wellington, 
Washington, Scott, Franklin, Palmerston. Lynd- 
hurst, Brougham, Cuvier, Stephenson, and the 
countless host who leave behind them merely 
the reputation of promising men prematurely 
struck down. We have no reason to believe 
that the human constitution is normally inferior, 
in point of endurance, to that of the brutes : and 
yet with all the advantages of reason, and all 
our pride of race, we are far behind them all in 
this respect. In civilized nations, more than one 



60 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

third of the race perish within five years after 
birth; and only one in five or six reaches the 
appointed term of human life, — -threescore years 
and ten. In view of these facts, men are in- 
clined to derive consolation from the idea, that 
these physical deficiencies are more than coun- 
terbalanced by the excellence of our mental 
stamina; and while the lungs are nourishing 
the seeds of consumption, and the stomach is 
destined to fall an easy prey to dyspepsia, and 
the nerves are tortured, even from the cradle, 
with anomalous ills, we flatter ourselves that 
the brain is beyond the reach of their noxious 
influences, and in the undisturbed possession of 
its normal powers ! 

It may possibly be feared by those worthy 
people who find themselves beyond their depth 
the moment they leave the shore of time-honor- 
ed opinions, that,^n attributing so much as we 
have thus far to merely organic conditions — in 
making the mental so dependent on the physical 
— we thereby weaken the foundations of all moral 
distinction^ As this apprehension may cause 
some distrust of the soundness of our principles, 
and so far impair the force of their hygienic ap- 
plication, it may be well to show how little sup- 
port the popular views on this subject derive 
from cme science and sound common sense. 

While people clearly recognize the infinite di- 



CEREBRAL CONDITIONS. 61 

versity of intellectual gifts, and would no more 
expect the fruits of genius and talent from them 
who had been denied by nature the slightest 
portion of either, than we should grapes from 
thorns or figs from thistles, they are in the habit 
of believing that, for all practical purposes, the 
moral endowments of men are equal. Not ex- 
actly that they are equally benevolent, equally 
honest, equally true to the right and the good, 
but that they might be if they chose. Misled by 
the fallacies which lurk under the specious terms, 
free will, free agency, they reach the conclusion 
that all men are equally responsible for their de- 
viations from the line of moral rectitude. They 
never would think of saying to men, " Here is 
poetry, here is philosophy, here is art ; you have 
the capacity to excel in either ; take your choice, 
and the w T oiid will hold you responsible for the 
result ; " yet they do not see the absurdity of 
saying, u Do good or do evil ; be a saint or a 
sinner, a blessing or a curse to your race ; you 
are a free agent, take your choice, and be re- 
warded or punished accordingly.' ' J3ut those 
cabalistic words, free will, free agency^which 
have been used, time out of mind, to dispel the 
difficulties of human responsibility, Jiave now 
lost their forced and we are obliged to resort for 
light to the results of mbdern inquiry. 

In the moral sense or faculty, it is easy to rec- 



62 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

ognize two different elements, viz. the power 
to discern the distinction between right and 
wrong, virtue and vice, the honest and the base, 
and the disposition to pursue the one and avoid 
the other. These elements, like those of the in- 
tellect, are unequally developed in different men, 
which inequality may be either congenital, or 
produced in after life, by moral or physical 
causes. And thus though a person may act 
with perfect freedom of will, unconscious of any 
irresistible bias, yet it is obvious that his con- 
duct is actually governed more by these variable 
conditions of his moral nature, than by any ab- 
stract notions formed by the intellect] In our 
ordinary judgments of men, as well as in those 
severer judgments that proceed from legal tri- 
bunals, the former are generally left out of the 
account ; but it cannot be supposed that, in de- 
termining the measure of responsibility, they are 
entirely without their weight, in the mind of the 
Sovereign Judge and Disposer. Now, then, 
starting from the unquestioned fact that the 
brain is the material instrument of the mind, we 
are led to the inevitable conclusion that its phys- 
ical condition must modify more or less its 
mental manifestations, moral as well as intellec- 
tual. To deny so plain a proposition would be 
equivalent to denying th^it the quality of the in- 
strument or organ can affect the quality of the 



CEREBRAL CONDITIONS. 63 

result which it was intended to produce, — to 
denying, in fact, that the quality of the music 
depends, in any degree, on the excellence of the 
instrument as well as the skill of the musician. 
We almost instinctively recognize the connec- 
tion between a large and well-proportioned head 
and great mental powers ; between the diminu- 
tive head and a very limited development of 
mind. In the various races of men, the dull- 
est observer may see that the cerebral indi- 
cates very exactly the mental development ; and 
the sculptor or painter who should disregard 
these relations would be considered stupid 
enough to be beyond the reach of censure. It 
follows, therefore, that the quality of the brain 
as affected by breeding, whereby a high or a low 
degree of organic excellence is made permanent, 
by being persistently transmitted through sev- 
eral generations, or by the influence of morbid 
action in itself or in other organs of the body, 
must determine, in a great degree, the moral as 
wel] as the intellectual character of each individ- 
ual man. It is said in the common form of 
speech, that a person is good or bad, because he 
chooses to be the one or the other ; and it is all 
very true, and sufficient, perhaps, for our rough 
estimates of responsibility, but it does not an- 
swer the essential question, What determines 
the choice? In the considerations here pre- 



64 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

sented, and in these only, is to be found a sat- 
isfactory answer to this question. 

The doctrine here put forth has been so ad- 
mirably unfolded by a popular writer, the secret 
of whose success consists not more in the force 
and humor of his conceptions than in the sound 
philosophy which pervades his views of moral 
and social questions, that I cannot forbear to 
make a liberal quotation. " Ministers talk about 
the human will as if it stood on a high look-out, 
with plenty of light and elbow-room reaching to 
the horizon. Doctors are constantly noticing 
how it is tied up and darkened by inferior or- 
ganization, by disease, and all sorts of crowding 
interferences, until they get to look upon Hot- 
tentots and Indians — and a good many of their 
own race — as a kind of self-conscious blood- 
clocks, with very limited power of self-deter- 
mination. That's the tendency, I say, of a 
doctor's experience. But the people to whom 
they address their statements of the results of 
their observation belong to the thinking class of 
the highest races, and they are conscious of a 
great deal of liberty of will. PSo in the face of 
the fact that civilization with all its offers has 
proved a dead failure with the aboriginal races 
of this country, — on the. whole, I say, a dead 
failure, — they talk as if they knew from their 
own will all about that of # Digger Indian. . . . 



CEREBRAL CONDITIONS. 65 

We see all kinds of monomania and insan- 
ity. "We learn from them to recognize all sorts 
of queer tendencies in minds supposed to be 
sane, so that we have nothing but compassion 
for a large class of persons condemned as sinners 
by theologians, but considered by us as invalids. 
\We have constant reasons for noticing the trans- 
mission of qualities from parents to offspring, 
and we find it hard to hold a child accountable 
in any moral point of view for inherited bad 
temper, or tendency to drunkenness, — as hard 
as we should to blame him for inheriting gout 
or asthma "r 

* Elsie Venner, ii. 115. 



66 MENIAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 



CHAPTER II. 

MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY PHYSICAL IN- 
FLUENCES. 

Among the physical agents that affect the 
vigor of the mind, none is more worthy of our 
attention than the air which we breathe, es- 
pecially as its importance in this respect is not 
sufficiently considered. Nobody denies that bad 
air is unwholesome, but most people suppose 
that the mischief is confined to the organs of 
respiration. The physiologist knows, however, 
that, much as these organs unquestionably suf- 
fer from bad air, the brain, on the whole, suffers 
more. If the blood which is sent from the lungs 
to the rest of the system is imperfectly oxygen- 
ated, no organ feels it more than the brain. It 
needs no argument better than one's own sensa- 
tions, to prove that in the open air, where we 
may inhale the breezes of heaven without let or 
hindrance, we experience, in the highest degree, 
its refreshing and invigorating influence. So 
susceptible is the brain of aerial changes that 
can only be manifested to it through the blood, 
that, were we deprived of every sense, we should 



PHYSICAL INFLUENCES. 67 

have no difficulty in distinguishing between the 
air of a room and the air of the open sky. 

Besides the merely pleasurable sensation de- 
rived from pure air, there is also a positive in- 
fluence exerted by it on the mental movements. 
The thoughts succeed one another more rap- 
idly, the conceptions are clearer, the mental ac- 
tivity can be longer maintained, and a certain 
feeling of buoyancy, if not exhilaration, pervades 
the whole mental condition. In a school, or 
hospital, or any other considerable assembly of 
people, the purity of the air may be pretty accu- 
rately measured by the amount of cheerfulness, 
activity, and lively interest which pervades it. 
And yet so little do people think or care about 
this subject, that, under existing arrangements, 
there are very few who do not, every day of their 
lives, inspire more or less highly vitiated air. In 
the school-room, where many a youth spends a 
large portion of his early life, the same air is 
generally breathed over and over again j7and.the 
only attempt which modern ingenuity has de- 
vised, or modern thrift has allowed, for remedy- 
ing the evil, consists in some trumpery contriv- 
ance whose operation degends on the state of the 
external atmosphere. { In churches, in lecture- 
rooms, in court-rooms, and ball-rooms, where peo- 
ple are wont to congregate, we have the same 
evili and perhaps the same abortive attempt to 



68 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

relieve it. In thousands of shops and counting- 
rooms the air is vitiated, for several months in 
the year, by coming in contact with red-hot 
iron, and often, by carbonic acid gas escaping 
from a leaky apparatus. But being early habit- 
uated to this kind of air, the greater part of our 
people grow up with their native sense of at- 
mospherical purity completely perverted. Even 
men whose education has made them ac- 
quainted with the laws of the animal economy, 
and whose avocations, it might be supposed, 
would leave them ample opportunity to care 
for their health, seem to be as regardless of 
good air as any others. 

The effect of vitiated air on the animal econ- 
omy is not often very perceptible immediately. 
The scholar recites his lessons, the merchant toils 
over his ledger, the minister, the lecturer, the 
judge, each performs his part, without growing 
black in the face, or falling down in a state of 
asphyxia. Most of them are not aware of hav- 
ing been under any noxious influence. A gen- 
tleman who, for many years, sat upon the Su- 
preme Bench of Massachusetts, which he hon- 
ored by his learning and integrity, and who, in 
the course of his life, had probably inspired more 
bad air than any other professional man of his 
time, used to express his surprise that so much 
was said about pure air and bad air, because it 



PHYSICAL INFLUENCES. 69 

seemed to be all alike to him. But the mischief 
is no less serious because its consequences are 
not immediately perceptible, any more than 
many other improprieties in our modes of living. 
jjNluch of the ill-health to which we have already 
adverted arises probably from this source. ( But 
often the immediate effect is obvious to the vigi- 
lant observer. The natural elasticity of the 
mind, which enables it, easily and promptly, to 
keep to its work, is impaired, and its operations 
are maintained by a dogged effort of the will. 
The jaded, wearisome feeling is prolonged into 
the intervals of rest, and, much of the time, the 
individual is conscious that he has a brain, more 
by the discomfort it occasions than by those 
pleasurable emotions that mark its perfectly 
healthy condition. 

It is a fact of considerable importance to the 
nervous invalid, that, besides the matter of tem- 
perature, the external atmosphere is not the same 
at all times and in all places. Here it may be 
invigorating and bracing, filling the mind with 
energy and hope. There it makes every exertion 
a burden, and produces irresistible lassitude and 
listlessness. During the prevalence of the si- 
rocco-wind in Malta, Sicily, and the south of 
Italy, there is observed to be a great increase of 
irritability and excitement, and nervous disease 
is more readily developed where the predisposi- 



70 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

tion exists. The damp winds of La Plata pro- 
duce a general lassitude and relaxation, accom- 
panied by remarkable irritability and ill-humor. 
It is a common thing for men among the better 
classes to shut themselves up in their houses 
during its continuance, and lay aside all business 
until it has passed, while among the lower 
classes cases of quarrelling and bloodshed are 
more frequent. Everything is disarranged, and 
everybody lays the fault to one source : " It is 
the North wind, Seiior." 

" In some conditions of nervous disorder," says 
a contemporary writer, "the slightest meteoro- 
logical changes give rise to singular alternations 
of despondency, despair, hope and joy, so com- 
pletely does the mind succumb to physical in- 
fluences. I have known a person subject to at- 
tacks of suicidal melancholia during the preva- 
lence of a cold, blighting, depressing east wind, 
who appeared happy, contented, and free from 
all desire to injure himself under other and 
more congenial conditions of the atmosphere. 
An Italian artist never could reside a winter in 
England without the distressing idea of self-de- 
struction repeatedly suggesting itself to his mor- 
bidly depressed mind. I have known natives 
of France, accustomed from early life to the 
buoyant air and light azure sky of that country, 
sink into profound states of mental despon- 



PHYSICAL INFLUENCES. 71 

dency, if compelled to reside many weeks in 
London during the earlier portion of the winter 



I The remarkable nervous excitability of our 
own people, indicated by restlessness, impul- 
siveness, impetuous and boisterous movement, 
probably arises from some quality of our cli- 
mate. Certainly, there can be no doubt respect- 
ing the trait itself. From early childhood to ma- 
ture decline, it is ever apparent, whether in the 
noise and rattle of the one, or the ardent, eager, 
insatiable spirit of the other. It is strikingly 
manifested in the insanity of this country, as 
compared with that of others. The most super- 
ficial observer does not fail to notice it in passing 
through the galleries of American and European 
hospitals for the insane. In the former, espec- 
ially those of the Northern and Eastern States, 
more excitement will meet his notice in a single 
visit, than he will see in the latter, particularly 
the English, in a whole week or month. And 
yet this excitability is but little less apparent in 
the Germans, Irish, and English, who abound in 
our hospitals, than in the native Americans. 
Such facts should be duly considered by nervous 
invalids in deciding upon a change of climate, 
in order that the step may meet the require- 
ments of their case. I 

* Winslow. Obscure Diseases of the Mind, p. 194. 



72 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

\ To obtain the highest degree of mental vigor, 
we require suitable habits of bodily exercise. 
Indolence, or sedentary employment, is no less 
prejudicial to the health of the mind than to that 
of the body. And yet no class of men is more 
heedless of the fact than that which is engaged 
in mental occupations.\ The ministers, the law- 
yers, the employes in banks and counting- 
rooms, who shorten their days in consequence 
of such neglect, cannot be numbered. They de- 
pend upon their brain, as the day-laborer does 
upon his spade and pick, but treat it as if it 
were a machine designed, unlike all other ma- 
chines of human construction, to run indefi- 
nitely, without repair, without even the slightest 
attention. " Other men look to their tools," 
says Burton ; " a painter will wash his pencils ; 
a smith will look to his hammer, anvil, and 
forge ; a husbandman will mend his plough- 
irons, and grind his hatchet if it be dull ; a fal- 
coner or huntsman will have an especial care of 
his hawks, hounds, horses, and dogs ; a musician 
will string and unstring his lute ; only scholars 
neglect that instrument (their brain and spirits 
I mean) which they daily use, and by which 
they range over all the world, and which by 
much study is consumed." 

To this as well as all other hygienic rules, 
there are, no doubt, some exceptions, and the 



PHYSICAL INFLUENCES. 73 

latter, unfortunately, are often regarded more 
than the former. The literary or professional 
man spends the greater part of the day in men- 
tal occupation, almost losing the use of his 
muscles for want of practice. Blessed with a 
native hardihood of constitution, he lives to a 
ripe old age, and people wonder and admire at 
the amount of work he has accomplished, and 
hold him up, perhaps, as an example to be imi- 
tated. Another counts money, or posts books, 
through the livelong day, with no other exercise 
than a walk once or twice a day, between his 
house and his office, and he too seems to thrive 
upon it. All this may be so. Indeed, there is 
no habit among those most generally regarded 
as injurious to health, which may not be ob- 
served occasionally in connection with a high 
degree of health. Still, the general rule is no 
less true, nor less important. Activity is the 
law of our being, imposed upon every organ of 
the body. Absolute rest, except that required 
by toil, nature abhors as she does a vacuum. 
Instead of marking only exceptional cases, or 
being curious as to the reasons for this or that 
arrangement, it is better to recognize the law 
and endeavor to comply with it. \ I repeat it, 
that men whose pursuits require considerable 
mental application, for several hours of the day, 
cannot reasonably expect the highest degree of 



74 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

mental vigor, without suitable habits of exercise. 
Without entering into any elaborate investiga- 
tion of its effects, it is enough here to say, that 
it seems to be required in order to complete the 
changes which the blood undergoes while pass- 
ing through the lungs and skin, and by means 
of which it supplies the necessary waste of ma- 
terial in the brain produced by excessive mental 
application. In persons whose occupations are 
merely sedentary, and who have little occasion 
to think, this want of exercise is sufficiently mis- 
chievous, but when, in connection with seden- 
tary habits, there is also much mental activity, 
the mischief is greatly increased. 

Even those who recognize the importance of 
muscular exercise, and determine not to neglect 
it altogether, are apt to take it very much as 
they take physic, or perform any other dis- 
agreeable duty. They take a solitary walk or 
ride, perhaps frequently and regularly while the 
fit lasts, but improve the opportunity of being 
more intent than usual on their customary 
thoughts; and if, for the same purpose, they 
hurry off every year or two to a watering-place, 
or join the rush of a cheap excursion, their 
minds are, all the while, away among the fa- 
miliar scenes of business, and they long for the 
moment which will terminate their unwelcome 
absence. When fairly through with it, they feel 



PHYSICAL INFLUENCES. 75 

that they have laid up a supererogatory stock of 
health, sufficient for any present if not future 
contingency. Yet these persons would smile at 
the idea of swallowing, at one sitting, food 
enough to supply the calls of hunger for a 
week. 

"What is especially needed among us is a 
more prevalent and more practical conviction of 
the importance of physical exercise as a habit of 
life, — to be practised, not from a sense of duty, 
but because it is instinctively demanded by the 
necessities of our nature, and is a source of 
pleasurable sensations. We would do well to 
imitate the English in this respect, with whom 
the habit of daily exercise has become to a great 
extent an institution of society. Among the in- 
telligent classes, few will be found who do not 
recognize and provide for this, as for other 
wants of nature. The English nobility, in spite 
of the indulgences which their position and 
means enable them to enjoy, are a long-lived 
race ; and it is because no class of people in the 
world spend a larger portion of their time en- 
gaged in exercise in the open air. The passion 
for field-sports is not confined to them, but pre- 
vails to an extent almost incredible to us, with 
whom it is barely respectable. And they whose 
avocations do not permit a habit of daily exer- 
cise, make up for it in some measure, by an an- 



76 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

nual vacation, when work is abandoned for rec- 
reation and physical activity. The trader turns 
his back upon the counter, the doctor abandons 
his patients, the lawyer flies from the conflicts of 
the bar — each and all determined to repair by 
a month or two of sport or pleasure, the wear 
and tear of the rest of the year. 

The radical fault in our modes of exercise is 
that they are unaccompanied by agreeable men- 
tal impressions. The mind is not diverted from 
its usual channels while the muscles are in ac- 
tivity, and thus the whole affair becomes the 
hardest description of work, resulting in fatigue 
both to body and mind. In order that any 
mode of exercise should be beneficial to persons 
of much mental activity, it should have some 
provision for entertaining the mind ; for if this is 
allowed to be busy as ever, it is not easy to see 
how it can be profited by the physical exercise, 
and yet nothing is more common than this sort 
of practical absurdity. Who does not sometimes 
meet, out upon his solitary, solemn walk, some 
thin, pale clergyman, for instance, whose every 
step and look show that he is meditating on his 
next Sunday's sermon ? And yet the good man 
flatters himself that he is engaged in a very sal- 
utary performance, and goes to his grave, per- 
haps, without discovering his fatal mistake. 
Once observing a friend of mine, who spent a 



PHYSICAL INFLUENCES. 77 

great part of the day in his counting-room, look- 
ing very poorly, I made some inquiries respect- 
ing his habits of exercise. He replied, " I am in 
the saddle one or two hours every day, but the 
ride does me no good, because it does not di- 
vert my mind from its customary thoughts. I 
know what I need, and I must have it." Ac- 
cordingly, he went to Scotland, his native land, 
took a place in the country, engaged in field- 
sports every day, and within a couple of years 
found his health completely reestablished. Let 
your exercise then be taken in cheerful com- 
pany, or coupled with a useful errand, or made 
incidental to some interesting employment. 
You will soon discern the difference between a 
walk in the country with no other object than 
locomotion, and one which contributes some- 
thing to your collection of plants or minerals, 
or to the contents of your portfolio. 

Among other agencies that affect the health 
of the mind, none exerts a wider influence, 
probably, than the diet. Such is not the com- 
mon sentiment, however, and many a man who 
admits that improper food may produce bodily 
illness, will deny, practically, at least, that it 
can impair the vigor of the mind. The fact 
that the digestive organs indicate considerable 
variety in the kind of food suitable for nutrition, 
taken in connection with the power possessed 



78 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

by the constitution of adapting itself to a va- 
riety of circumstances, have led to a remarkable 
laxity of notions on this subject. In the more 
popular views, we recognize the influence of 
appetite or fashion, rather than that of philoso- 
phy or mature experience. I have already al- 
luded to the common proneness of men to sup- 
pose that an organic law has not been infringed, 
merely because the event has not been signal- 
ized by some sudden and striking phenomenon. 
Hence it is, chiefly, that no system of diet, how- 
ever rigid and exclusive, has been without its 
votaries, and no article of food or drink so per- 
nicious that it has failed to be extensively used. 
Still the great principles of physiology endure, 
and if we believe in them, we must be satisfied 
that what a man habitually eats and drinks will, 
sooner or later, for good or for ill, affect the 
health both of body and mind. 

Creatures of circumstance as we are, living in 
a highly artificial condition, endowed with a 
constitution which shows in its inmost germs 
the marks of this condition, it is impossible to 
lay down any exclusive rules on the subject. 
The most we can do will be to bring forward 
some general considerations that may help us, 
with a little discretion, to a safe practical result. 
If it were a question respecting the diet of an 
Esquimaux, or an African negro, we should 



PHYSICAL INFLUENCES. 79 

have no difficulty in deciding it, because it 
would be fair to conclude that the food most 
easily accessible, if not the only kind within his 
reach, is best adapted to his constitution. But 
when we entertain the same question with re- 
spect to a class of people surrounded by every 
variety of food and climate, with tastes, habits, 
and faculties infinitely diversified by education, 
and by those organic influences which are in- 
cluded in the term domestication^ we are sensible 
of encountering a problem that scarcely admits 
of a thorough solution, — a problem that be- 
comes still more difficult when we add to the 
circumstances here mentioned that of excessive 
mental application, conjoined with much physi- 
cal inactivity. Everybody knows that no rule 
of diet can be of universal application under all 
this variety of circumstance. The colder the 
weather, for instance, other things being equal, 
the greater will be the amount of stimulating 
food required to maintain the animal heat and 
repair the waste of organic material. The 
hardy lumberman in an Eastern forest, under 
the drafts made upon his forces by extreme cold 
and immense labor, will consume prodigious 
quantities of salt pork, and fat of every kind, 
and evidently thrive upon it. But such a fact 
does not show what would be the most suitable 
diet for others, any more than would the dietary 



80 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

of those sanguine reformers who would have us 
fulfil our duties to the world with only such re- 
freshment to the inner man as it can derive from 
sawdust and cold water. After making all due 
allowance for diversity of circumstances, we 
venture to lay down the general rule, that the 
diet most conducive to bodily health and vigor, 
where the bodily powers chiefly are exercised, 
will be found, on the whole, most conducive to 
the mental health and vigor of those who are 
chiefly engaged in mental employments, though 
the former, no doubt, may require more. If this 
proposition excites any surprise, it must be 
owing to the popular impression that hard- 
working men require much larger quantities of 
animal food than they whose employments are 
of a sedentary character. This popular im- 
pression, though received with all the authority 
of an axiom, is founded less upon a careful in- 
duction of facts than upon a figure of speech. 
Strong men, it is said, must need have strong 
food. In this country, a large portion of the 
diet of the laboring classes consists of animal 
substances. In Europe, on the contrary, most 
of the laboring people seldom taste of animal 
food. It becomes then simply a question of 
fact, which of the two accomplishes most, and 
enjoys the greatest measure of health. . I am 
not aware that any inquiries have been made 



PHYSICAL INFLUENCES. 81 

expressly for the purpose of answering this 
question, but the few observations that have 
met my notice are very decisive so far as they 
go. The late Henry Coleman, in one of his ag- 
ricultural tours, observed that the Scotch farm 
laborers live almost entirely on oatmeal, scarcely 
seeing meat through the whole season. He 
was satisfied that no men do more work, or 
show better health. This story would be quite 
incredible to an American laborer, who would 
sooner believe all the legends of the Talmud 
than that a good day's work could be performed 
without an unlimited supply of beef and pork. 
A hale Scotch gardener, between fifty and sixty 
years old, told me that, until he came to this 
country, which was at the age of twenty-seven, 
he had seldom tasted animal food, yet he was 
always well, and did as much work as he since 
had on a very different diet. It is said that in 
the California mines no class of persons better 
endure hardships, or accomplish greater results, 
than the Chinese, and they live chiefly on vege- 
table food. It is also pertinent to the point to 
mention, that the standard of health is much 
lower among our people, probably, than among 
those just named. They are subject to tempo- 
rary illnesses causing an inability to work, to a 
degree that could hardly be expected in a peo- 
ple so early inured to exposure and toil, and so 



#2 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

little acquainted with enervating indulgences. 
The nature of these ailments point, for the most 
part, to a digestive origin, and may be fairly at- 
tributed to errors of diet, of which the principal 
is a larger amount of animal substances than 
the organs can easily elaborate. Without lay- 
ing down any theory of diet, we seem to be 
warranted in concluding that all classes of per- 
sons among us consume a much larger amount 
of animal food than is really conducive to their 
bodily health and vigor. I say all classes, be- 
cause if the proposition be true of those whose 
labors induce the greatest waste of material, it 
certainly must be, for a stronger reason, of those 
whose occupations are light and sedentary. I 
have been thus particular on this point, because 
it furnishes us with the surest clew to the solu- 
tion of the question in hand. 

It is a doctrine not calculated to challenge 
universal assent, that a man of stout limbs and 
stalwart frame, delving with all his might six 
days out of seven, needs no more animal food 
than the attenuated philosopher whose labors 
are all of the head. Unquestionably one will 
require more nutriment than the other ; but it is 
only to beg the question to say, that the amount 
of nutriment is proportioned to the amount of 
animal food. In the popular notions on this 
subject, and in some of higher pretensions, we 



PHYSICAL INFLUENCES. 83 

perceive this fallacy, which seems to have 
sprung from some fanciful connection between 
muscular strength and animal substance. There 
is no necessity for believing that the supply re- 
quired by the waste of material which physical 
exercise produces, cannot be as effectually fur- 
nished by vegetable as by animal substances. 
We certainly do not believe it in regard to the 
domestic animals that share the labors of man, 
and which are capable of an amount of physical 
power and endurance far beyond the reach of 
any carnivorous creature. If this is the law in 
regard to the inferior animals, what reason is 
there for supposing that it is not also the law in 
regard to man ? From these considerations we 
are led again to the general conclusion, that the 
same kind of food which is found most condu- 
cive to the bodily health and vigor will also be 
found, other things equal, most conducive to 
the health and vigor of the mind. I would not 
be understood to advocate a strict uniformity of 
diet, still less, any sudden changes of diet not 
called for by some special exigency. Long-es- 
tablished habits are a second nature, and cannot 
be disregarded with impunity. I have reference 
to the constitution in its normal state, before it 
has been weakened and perverted by wrong 
habits and hereditary infirmity. 

In a dietetic point of view, the drink is no less 



84 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

important than the solid food. And we are im- 
pelled to the same conclusion which seems to 
be the true one in regard to food generally, viz. 
that whatever best promotes the health of the 
body will also best promote the health and vigor 
of the mind. It has not yet been satisfactorily 
proved that alcoholic drinks are a salutary bev- 
erage to persons enjoying a tolerable measure of 
health, and working within an easy round of 
employment. Still, it is a fair question, wheth- 
er, under the influences of civilization — which 
bears the same relation to man that domestica- 
tion does to the inferior animals — the human 
constitution has not become so changed from 
the normal condition as to require a diet some- 
what different from that most suitable in its 
original stat£.J The ox and the horse in their 
native abodes thrived on grass and shrubs, but 
this would be indifferent provender to the horse 
and ox of our times. The fruits of the field and 
the crystal stream may have been amply suffi- 
cient for man in his state of primeval inno- 
cence, but does he not, under the wear and tear 
of civilized life, require a diet more substantial 
and stimulating, like the creatures just men- 
tioned ? Are not tea, coffee, wine, and spirits 
necessary, in some degree, to maintain the 
bodily and mental powers in their most vigorous 
condition amid the exhausting influences — the 



PHYSICAL INFLUENCES. 85 

duties, the pleasures, the joyfe and the sorrows, 
the toil and the conflict — of artificial life ? 
The principle involved in the question seems to 
be clear enough. If the powers are habitually- 
urged beyond an easy activity, or the stamina of 
the constitution have become enfeebled by he- 
reditary defects, those articles may be salutary 
just as medicine is salutary when actual disease 
is present. It is but an illustration of the great 
law that pervades all nature, that one abuse 
necessarily leads to another. The practical ap- 
plication of the principle is not so clear. The 
precise amount of mental exhaustion, of ener- 
vating habits, of constitutional infirmity, that 
may seem to require a supply of artificial stim- 
ulus, is not very easily settled. With every 
disposition to judge correctly, the rigid moralist 
would probably place it too low, while the bon 
vivant would err in the opposite direction ; and 
the latter error would, unquestionably, be the 
more common. The history of literary men 
shows very strongly that the exercise of the 
highest powers of the mind, through a long life, 
does not necessarily require much if any alco- 
holic stimulus. In fact, they who have labored 
hardest and longest were singularly abstemious. 
Newton, Locke, Gibbon, Burke, Scott, were 
among the most temperate of men ; and yet, if 
the amount of intellectual labor is to decide the 



86 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

amount of indulgence, certainly none could have 
claimed more than these celebrated men. If in- 
tellectual labor ever exhausts the nervous ener- 
gies to such a degree, that stimulating drinks 
are required to sustain them at the working 
point, it must be supposed to have done it in 
their cases. True, they were not teetotalers, 
and it never can be proved that they would have 
done equally well without the little which they 
took. They were satisfied, it may be said, with 
that moderate indulgence which kept the ner- 
vous system in its best possible tone without 
exceeding the limits of a healthy stimulation. 
There is much reason to believe, however, that 
the habits of those men arose, less from any in- 
stinctive cravings, than from the conventional 
usages of the sphere in which they moved, and 
consequently might have been abandoned entirely 
without any detriment to their mental health 
and energy. Cases there have been, no doubt, 
where great intellectual efforts were rendered 
possible only by the liberal use of stimulating 
drinks. Pitt, during the latter years of his life, 
if not before, never encountered the labor and 
excitement of a parliamentary debate without 
enormous libations of port wine. Two or three 
bottles of a night, accompanied by a beefsteak, 
was the usual allowance, and undoubtedly he 
would have been powerless without it. It would 



PHYSICAL INFLUENCES. 87 

have required a stouter constitution than Pitt's 
to stand the wear and tear of such duties and 
such habits beyond the age of forty-five. In- 
stead of holding up his case as an example to 
be followed, or as a proof that indulgence to 
any degree is favorable to mental energy, I 
would rather have it regarded as an example of 
injudicious training, premature effort, and per- 
nicious habits, to be most carefully pondered 
and avoided. A better example, both in morals 
and hygiene, was exhibited by his illustrious 
compeer, Burke, who met the same kind of de- 
mand upon his energies by no stronger stimulus 
than hot water. 

If it be true that men like Burke, and others 
moving in a similar sphere, really need no alco- 
holic stimulus, should we not hesitate to recom- 
mend it to that numerous class whose business 
requires the intense application of their minds, 
many hours in the day, under circumstances not 
very favorable to their physical health? It is 
not an uncommon opinion, that many of these 
persons would break down without the aid 
afforded by such stimulus, and I rather believe 
it has some foundation in fact. When men 
habitually overtask their brains, and accompany 
their imprudence by a disregard of many other 
rules of health, they may, not improbably, pro- 
long a precarious existence by resorting to such 



88 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

means. Other persons, too, more prudent in 
managing their mental resources, who feel the 
depressing effects of civic life, and find relief 
from the use of stimulating drinks, are liable to 
adopt the idea that they may be equally salutary 
as a prophylactic after the casual ailment has 
passed away. Such means of preserving the 
health is far more agreeable to most men, than 
air, exercise, and recreation, which require time? 
opportunity, and self-denial; and here is the 
source of much of the self-deception which per- 
vades this subject. To the young who are sin- 
cerely seeking the right course in regard to the 
use of stimulating drinks, I do not hesitate to 
say, as the result to which the most careful and 
candid observers have arrived, You may safely 
resolve to abstain entirely, until advised to the 
contrary by a competent physician. 

Knowing what we do of the organic laws, we 
are obliged to believe that the habitual use of 
spirituous liquors must necessarily impair the 
health of the brain, and thus disturb its func- 
tions. That it engenders disease of the stom- 
ach, liver, and some other organs, is a fact well 
established by anatomical researches ; but its 
immediate effect on the brain, as indicated by 
the mental manifestations, is too obvious to re- 
quire any research at all. Now, this frequent 
stimulation of the cerebral organism is unnatu- 



PHYSICAL INFLUENCES. 89 

ral, and, like all unnatural actions in the animal 
economy, must be detrimental to its energy and 
vigor. The general law is, that any organ hab- 
itually stimulated beyond a certain point there- 
by loses its natural energy, and sooner or later 
becomes the seat of disease. In no other organ 
is the operation of this law more speedy or se- 
vere. To say that a brain which has been much 
stimulated by strong drink will continue to per- 
form its functions with undiminished power, is 
to affirm what is not sustained by actual expe- 
rience, or the laws of the animal economy. 

These remarks, it must be understood, apply 
to those only who are supposed to be sound 
and healthy. To those, on the contrary, w T hose 
vital energies have been impaired by disease or 
exhausting labors, the regulated use of alco- 
holic stimulants may be required to supply the 
waste of the nervous forces incident to intel- 
lectual labors. In this abnormal condition of 
the system, the unassisted efforts of nature 
would fail to maintain the mind at its working 
point, or even to restore the physical vigor. No 
medical man, not wedded to a theory, will deny 
the correctness of this statement, for that expe- 
rience must have been very peculiar which has 
not furnished abundant illustrations. Indeed, 
we might, with as little regard for the results 
of experience, deny that bark can stop the par- 



90 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

oxyms of intermittent fever, or that opium can 
produce sleep and nervous tranquillity. 

There is a form of mental disorder produced 
by intemperate habits, and now become deplor- 
ably common, which may be properly noticed in 
this connection. I refer to that insatiable pro- 
pensity to drink which impels the person to 
indulge, in spite of the strongest possible in- 
ducements to refrain, as if the will were pow- 
erless, and the moral sense somewhat Wanted. 
It differs from the ordinary fondness for drink — 
in which, no doubt, it generally originates — in 
being beyond the control of any conceivable 
moral consideration, and connected, probably, 
with some pathological condition of the brain. 
It is manifested under two general forms. In 
one, the person proceeds from one excess to an- 
other and a greater, until a maniacal condition 
of the brain is produced, when he becomes un- 
conscious of his acts, and, often, disposed to 
violence. In the other, he retires to some se- 
cluded place, and there, quietly and alone, rap- 
idly imbibes large quantities of liquor, until the 
stomach refuses to receive any more. He then 
remains for a time in a stupid, listless state, 
which is succeeded by the natural condition, 
and this, after an interval more or less brief, by 
a repetition of the same scenes. In both cases, 
the individual seems to have no more moral free- 



PHYSICAL INFLUENCES. 91 

dom than the true maniac has while committing 
his extravagances. He is entirely under the do- 
minion of an organic impulse by which he is 
led automatically, and sometimes unconsciously. 
In the early stages of the paroxysm, he may ap- 
pear to be aware of what he is about, and fancy 
that he is only indulging within reasonable limits. 
He feels quite secure, and every remonstrance is 
indignantly answered in a tone of injured inno- 
cence. Or he may admit, to the fullest extent, 
the enormity of his sin and his peril, while he 
deplores his utter inability to resist the appetite 
that rages within him. One whose case is relat- 
ed by Macnish, thus replied to the remonstrances 
of his friend: " Your remarks are just; they are, 
indeed, too true ; but I can no longer resist temp- 
tation. If a bottle of brandy stood at one hand, 
and the pit of hell yawned at the other, and I 
were convinced that I would be pushed in as 
sure as I took one glass, I could not refrain. 
You are very kind : I ought to be very grate- 
ful for so many kind, good friends, but you may 
spare yourselves the trouble of trying to reform 
me ; the thing is out of the question." * And thus 
it is, that advice, admonition, and reproach are 
all equally lost upon this class of persons, and 
the end is the same in nearly all, — they lose all 
rational control over their conduct, abandon their 

* Anatomy of Drunkenness, Chap. xiv. 



92 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

employments, desert or abuse their families, and 
though they commit no act of violence, they, at 
least, destroy the peace and threaten the safety 
of those around them. 

In some cases the propensity seems to be ex- 
cited by some moral cause which severely tries 
the mental energies, such as unusual responsi- 
bility, excessive mental application, the person, 
generally, not being an habitual drinker. In- 
deed, in the severest case that ever came to my 
knowledge, the person had previously scarcely 
known the taste of intoxicating drinks ; and in 
the intervals between his paroxysms, nothing 
could induce him to indulge in the slightest 
degree. 

An evil so common as this has become, and 
so sad in its consequences to all concerned, is 
justly regarded with the deepest interest, by 
every friend of man ; and during the last forty 
or fifty years, few questions have agitated the 
community more than those which relate to its 
prevention or cure. Magistrates, legislators, mor- 
alists, philanthropists, have tasked their ingenu- 
ity in devising modes of relief; and in the various 
attempts to accomplish so desirable and so diffi- 
cult an end, every conceivable motive by which 
men are usually actuated, has been addressed, 
with what success I need not say. 

With the means of prevention, I have here no 



PHYSICAL INFLUENCES. 93 

concern, and in regard to the means of cure, 
which do come within my province, I fear I can 
offer nothing very satisfactory. The pathologi- 
cal element in this condition would seem to im- 
ply the propriety of medical treatment, but the 
difficulty here is, that the patient is unwilling or 
unable to take the first step in the treatment of 
any disease, — that of removing the cause of the 
disease. To secure this object, as well as to pre- 
vent the mischief liable to arise from the frenzy 
that often exists,Qt is necessary sometimes to 
subject the patient to restraint and confinement; 
and inasmuch as his domestic arrangements 
might render this impossible in his own home 
or any private family, hospitals for the insane 
have been resorted to, of late years, for this pur- 
pose. They furnish the rest and effect the absti- 
nence that are required, and if the person can 
be kept sufficiently long, the best results may 
sometimes be obtained. There are objections, 
however, to this measureAsome real and others 
fanciful, which have led to other projects. -Some 
of these persons are very unfit associates ! with 
the insane, and thus the legitimate purpose of 
these institutions is, to that extent, frustrated. 
On the other hand, some of them feel, or profess 
to feel, outraged by being compelled to witness 
scenes which shock their sensibilities and ren- 
der them constantly uncomfortable and unhappy ; 



94 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

£tRough, as a matter of fact, such are the means 
of classification in most of our hospitals for the 
insane, that they need see but little, if any, more 
of insanity^or, at least, of its prominent features, 
{than they would in the world at largeTl 

The last project taken into favor, for dealing 
with the evil in question, is that of establish- 
ments expressly designed for the reception and 
treatment of inebriates. What their success 
may be is a matter of speculation, as no one 
of much consequence has yet been opened. 
They certainly are exempt from the objections 
just mentioned as lying against hospitals for the 
insane, but it can hardly be supposed that they 
would be entirely exempt from social annoyances 
more disagreeable even than any that can arise 
from association with the insane. But this is 
not all. In their special work, they must labor 
under the same difficulty as hospitals for the in- 
sane, — the difficulty of retaining their cases suf- 
ficiently long to make a permanent impression. 
Even the most of those who would consent to the 
step 3 while suffering under the peculiar wretch- 
edness incident to their propensity, have no idea 
of prolonging their seclusion after the immediate 
effects of indulgence have disappeared. The 
restoration of the bodily condition to something 
like its customary strength and firmness, with 
all the pleasing sensations which follow such a 



PHYSICAL INFLUENCES. 95 

change, excite no distrust of their power to resist 
temptation. On the contrary, they are always 
hopeful, confident, sanguine, and impatient of 
delay. They say they feel perfectly well, have 
not the slightest desire for drink, and, therefore, 
that farther seclusion would be, not only unnec- 
essary, but prejudicial to their mental and bodily 
health. The amazing confidence such persons 
invariably express in their future security, is one 
of the curious traits of this condition. A great 
many have come under my observation, but I 
never knew one — not even of those who had 
repeatedly fallen, and had most deplored their in- 
firmity — to express any apprehension of falling 
again. On the contrary, from the moment when 
they begin to resume their proper consciousness 
until they leave the hospital, the burden of their 
story is, that they are safe forever after ; that not 
the slightest danger exists of their again disre- 
garding the terrible lessons of experience. In- 
stead of returning into the world with fear and 
trembling, as one would naturally expect to see 
them, and seizing upon any excuse for postpon- 
ing the day of trial, they go out eager and jubi- 
lant, as if bound on a festive excursion. 

Thus beguiled by a morbid confidence in them- 
selves, they determine to reassume their liberty, 
in spite of entreaty and argument, and the insti- 
tution has no power to prevent it. Neither a 



96 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

hospital for the insane nor an asylum for ine- 
briates can hold persons in confinement against 
their consent, for any other cause than insanity; 
and though our account of this class of persons 
does not indicate in them a very healthy condi- 
tion of mind, yet, inasmuch as they are appar- 
ently rational after the first day or two, both in 
conduct and conversation, they cannot be called 
insane, in the ordinary acceptation of the term. 
While in the paroxysm, or suffering under its 
immediate effects, they may, very properly, be 
called insane, and so long they may, unquestion- 
ably, be deprived of their liberty, for the purposes 
of custody or cure. But when this condition 
shall have passed away, forcible detention in any 
institution, whatever it may be called, would be 
clearly a violation of constitutional rights, and 
would not be sanctioned by the legal tribunals. 

A notion prevails, I am aware, that the ine* 
briate asylum is to be unprovided with bolts, 
bars, and guards, and no means of detention al- 
lowed more forcible than the offices of kindness, 
good-will, and love. Respecting this notion it 
need only be said that it indicates but a school- 
boy's knowledge of human nature, and a still 
deeper ignorance of that special phasis of it 
which results from long-continued, irresistible 
inebriety. 

The spectacle is a sad one, and no reliable 



PHYSICAL INFLUENCES. 97 

promise of relief appears in any quarter what- 
ever, but we may be allowed to hope that in the 
infinite resources of Providence, means will be 
afforded for restraining, if not abolishing, this 
tremendous evil. 

There remains to be considered one more 
physical agency closely connected with the 
health of the brain, — sleep. A periodical re- 
newal of the nervous energies as often as once a 
day is an institution of nature, none the less 
necessary to the well-being of the animal econ- 
omy, because in some degree under the control 
of the will. To disregard its requirements with 
impunity is no more possible than it is to vio- 
late any other organic law with impunity ; and 
no man need flatter himself that he may system- 
atically intrench upon the hours usually de- 
voted to rest, and still retain the freshness and 
elasticity of his faculties. With the same kind- 
liness that marks all the arrangements of the 
animal economy, this condition is attended with 
many pleasing sensations and salutary effects, 
gently alluring us to seek the renovation which 
it offers. " While I am asleep," says the im- 
mortal Sancho Panza, " I have neither fear nor 
hope, neither trouble nor glory ; and blessings on 
him who invented sleep, — the mantle that cov- 
ers all human thoughts ; the food that appeases 
hunger ; the drink that quenches thirst ; the fire 
7 



98 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

that warms cold ; the cold that moderates heat ; 
and, lastly, the general coin that purchases all 
things; — the balance and weight that make the 
shepherd equal to the king, and the simple to 
the wise." The ill effects of insufficient sleep 
may be witnessed on some of the principal or- 
ganic functions, but it is the brain and nervous 
system that suffer chiefly and in the first in- 
stance. The consequences of a very protracted 
vigil are too well known to be mistaken, but 
many a person is suffering, unconscious of the 
cause, from the habit of irregular and insufficient 
sleep. One of its most common effects is a de- 
gree of nervous irritability and peevishness which 
even the happiest self-discipline can scarcely 
control. That buoyancy of the feelings, that 
cheerful, hopeful, trusting temper that springs far 
more from organic conditions than from mature 
and definite convictions, give way to a spirit 
of dissatisfaction and dejection ; while the even 
demeanor, the measured activity, are replaced, 
either by a lassitude that renders any exertion 
painful, or an impatience and restlessness not 
very conducive to happiness. Upon the intel- 
lectual powers the mischief is still more serious. 
They not only lose that healthy activity which 
combines and regulates their movements in the 
happiest manner, but they are no longer capable 
of efforts once perfectly easy. The conceptions 






PHYSICAL INFLUENCES. 99 

cease to be clear and well-defined, the power of 
endurance is weakened, inward perceptions are 
confounded with outward impressions, and illu- 
sory images obtrude themselves unbidden upon 
the mind. This kind of disturbance may pass, 
sooner or later, into actual insanity, and many 
a noble spirit has been utterly prostrated by 
habitual loss of rest. Southey, whom no 
amount of literary labor seemed to fatigue, 
sunk under its disastrous effects ; and this it 
was that caused his hardy intellect, that had 
successfully encountered adversity and trial, to 
go down at last in clouds and darkness. After 
the labors of the day, he was accustomed, very 
often, to watch, the greater part of the night, by 
the bed of his first wife, through a protracted 
illness; and thus, his friend Wordsworth 
thought, he prepared for the calamity that 
finally overtook him. * Even the gigantic intel- 
lect of Newton reeled under the shock of a sim- 
ilar trial. In September, 1693, he conceived 
that Locke and other friends were endeavoring 
to embroil him with the government, and that 
the former was writing books that struck at the 
root of morality. On the 5th of October fol- 
lowing, he wrote a letter to Locke, in which he 
says: " The last winter, by sleeping too often by 
my fire, I got an ill habit of sleeping; and a 

* Scenery and Poetry of the English Lakes, by C. Mackay. 



100 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

distemper, which, this summer, has been epi- 
demical, put me farther out of order ; so that 
when I wrote to you, I had not slept an hour a 
night for a fortnight together, and, for five days 
together, not a wink. I remember I wrote to 
you, but what I said of your book I remember 
not." * 

Where a predisposition to insanity exists, 
nothing proves to be a more potent exciting 
cause than the loss of sleep. Persons thus un- 
fortunately constituted must beware how they 
allow their duties or pleasures to interfere with 
this restorative process which is indispensable 
even to their present safety. The records of 
our asylums show that in a large proportion of 
cases the disease was attributable chiefly to this 
cause, which a little more prudence would 
have prevented. 

The amount of sleep necessary to good health 
must vary, like food and exercise, in different 
individuals, according to their duties, temper- 
aments, and habits. Some are capable of ac- 
complishing much with very little sleep, and ap- 
parently suffer no harm. Pichegru, the French 
revolutionary general, went through a year's 
campaign, sleeping but one hour in the twenty- 
four, and still enjoying good health. After mak- 
ing all suitable allowances, we are inclined to 

* Brewster's Life of Newton, II. 240. 



PHYSICAL INFLUENCES. 101 

believe that from six to eight hours of sleep are 
necessary to the highest condition of bodily and 
mental health. Sleep, however, unlike food and 
exercise, cannot always be regulated by the 
will. From one cause or another, every person 
is unable at times to obtain the amount of 
sleep he requires. In vain we court the favors 
of the drowsy god. The more anxiously they 
are sought, the less readily do they come at our 
bidding, and much of the night is spent in soli- 
tary vigils that recruit neither body nor mind. 
Sooner or later, the consequences of this con- 
dition, if it continue long, become visible in 
some form of impaired mental vigor. 

The practical lesson taught by such facts is, 
that we should avoid all those habits that are 
manifestly unfavorable to sound sleep, and prac- 
tise every appropriate art for obtaining it. The 
empire of prejudice, habit, fashion, and social ar- 
rangement, is too strong, I fear, to be weakened 
by the counsels of the physician, but this would 
scarcely excuse us in passing over in silence a 
matter of so much importance. With many 
persons devoted to intellectual pursuits, the 
night is the favorite period of study and compo- 
sition. They have forced themselves to believe 
that they cannot possibly think or write with 
fluency or fervor at any other period ; as if the 
noblest exercise of the intellect could be pursued 



102 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

only under circumstances incompatible with its 
health and vigor. The idea that one can use 
his mind only at a certain time of day is a 
whim unworthy of a rational being, and indica- 
tive of the most imperfect self-discipline. Let 
him who would derive the highest satisfaction 
from intellectual pursuits learn to be indepen- 
dent of the petty accidents of time and place, 
and be assured that, until he has accomplished 
this lesson, he is not master of himself. They 
who pursue this habit of night-study, pass di- 
rectly from their desks to their beds. In some 
few happily constituted individuals, the transi- 
tion from the highest mental activity to a state 
of absolute repose is the work of a moment, but 
with most persons it is a long and difficult proc- 
ess. The tension of the nervous fibres will not 
relax immediately, the images that have been 
thronging the brain refuse to depart, and no 
effort of will can induce that unconsciousness 
which comes unbidden, if it come at all. Boer- 
haave relates that having once indulged from 
morning till night in intense thought, he did 
not close his eyes for six weeks, during all 
which time he was indifferent to everything. 
This practice must be abandoned if we would 
insure sound sleep. It is a good general rule to 
spend the last hour or two before retiring to 
rest in some form of recreation, or the lightest 



PHYSICAL INFLUENCES. 103 

kind of mental exercise ; and it is also another 
good rule to retire early. 

Looking at the affluent classes generally, it 
is obvious that the social customs of the time 
are quite incompatible with those habits of rest 
which are essential to mental vigor. The late 
hours which most forms of evening amusement, 
or other social gathering, require, sadly en- 
croach upon the time that should be allotted to 
rest, and the calls of business do not always al- 
low the deficiency to be met by abstracting 
ever so little from the golden hours of morning. 
Besides this, in the young and inexperienced, 
the scenes of the evening are not readily effaced 
from the mind, but pass and repass before it, 
in all the vividness of reality, long after the eyes 
have been closed, and the hovering slumbers in- 
vited to descend. The brain is in no condition 
for sleep. The circulation is accelerated, and 
the nervous system excited ; sleep, when it 
comes, if it come at all, is fitful, and disturbed 
by dreams ; the person rises but little refreshed 
by this abortive attempt at repose, and the du- 
ties of the day are pursued under a sense of 
languor, if not positive weariness. True, a few 
nights of uninterrupted repose may repair ap- 
parently the evil of a single indulgence, and 
were it limited to a single indulgence once or 
twice a year, the effect might be scarcely appre- 



104 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

ciable. But where such amusements are pur- 
sued very frequently, perhaps night after night 
for a whole season together, they make a very 
considerable addition to the amount of nervous 
depreciation inseparable from the habits of a 
highly civilized life. This cause alone is ac- 
countable for much of the ill-health that prevails 
among the easier classes, and always must, so 
long as the law of our nature requires regular 
and sufficient sleep. 

The efficiency of the mind as a working 
power, will be affected, in a very great degree, 
by the stint of mental exercise to which it is 
subjected. [A fruitful source of mental impair- 
ment is the prevalent mistake of supposing that 
the brain possesses a power of exertion and en- 
durance unlimited) by any other law than our 
own free will and pleasure. Here we disregard 
those laws of health which we respect in the ex- 
ercise of other organs ; and many a man who 
would shrink from the folly of habitually cram- 
ming his stomach with food, or of changing his 
dress incautiously, will work his brain every 
day beyond the point of fatigue ; not even man- 
ifesting the prudence with which he would use 
the most common machine subject to the wear 
and tear resulting from friction and decay. In 
every department of mental exertion, we witness 
this serious mistake. The lawyer, the doctor, 



PHYSICAL INFLUENCES. 105 

the minister, the scholar, the merchant, the me- 
chanic, all apparently act on the presumption 
that their brains are made of iron, which no 
conceivable amount of use can weaken or de- 
range. In many of them, the brain is kept 
in a state of incessant activity, often of the 
most wearing description, during the greater 
part of the day. As a consequence of such 
habits, it is not strange that every description of 
mental infirmity should have increased among 
us of late, to an extent that has no parallel in 
former times. In the prime of life, in the midst 
of usefulness, men rapidly break down, and, 
after hovering around their customary haunts 
for a brief period, disappear forever. By in- 
sanity, paralysis, and other organic lesions, 
brains are now " used up," in the popular 
phrase, with a frequency that is full of instruc- 
tion, if we would but heed it. Paralytic affec- 
tions, which once were comparatively rare, and 
attributable in great part to hereditary predispo- 
sition or sensual indulgences, now occur in 
multitudes who seemed to be enjoying good 
health and had always been regular and tem- 
perate in all their ways. Indeed, were we to 
indicate that feature in the medical constitution 
of our times, which distinguishes it from all 
others, it would be our large proportion of cere- 
bral affections. 



106 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

\Jt can scarcely be doubted, however, that a 
certain amount of mental activity is necessary 
in order to obtain the highest degree of mental 
healths Although excessive exercise of the 
mind, as we have seen, is calculated to impair 
its efficiency, yet it is no less certain that\the 
worst results sometimes follow excessive inac- 
tivity and listlessness.J It might be supposed, 
perhaps, that a person whose thoughts never ex- 
tend beyond a very limited range, would never 
suffer from mental disorder ; and the remarkable 
exemption of savage tribes from diseases of the 
mind would seem to confirm this idea. -But all 
the analogies of physiology show that an organ 
which is little used gradually loses its efficiency, 
and assumes that molecular arrangement which 
invites the approach of disease; (and if the sav- 
age is more exempt than the sage from mental 
infirmities, as he probably is, the fact is to be 
attributed to his greater exemption from all the 
deteriorating influences of civilization^whereby 
his brain, as -well as all the other organs, enjoys 
•the largest possible measure of health. In per- 
sons of a dull, narrow understanding, and pre- 
disposed also in any degree to mental affections, 
the lack of sufficient mental exercise may con- 
stitute the single agency that is required to con- 
vert this tendency into overt disease, by reason 

of the same organic law whereby the same dis- 



PHYSICAL INFLUENCES. 107 

aster is made to follow excessive use of the 
mind. In every old community are people of 
this description, who feel no interest in anything 
beyond their own little circle, — whose wishes 
and sympathies and aspirations never extend 
beyond the confines of their farm or workshop. 
They plod on from day to day in the old beaten 
track, while the clamor of the world around 
them falls on their ear, exciting as little emo- 
tion as the roar of the angry ocean in the sleep- 
ing mariner. The discoveries of art and science 
excite no curiosity ; the achievements of philan- 
thropy touch no responsive chord ; and the great 
events of their time — a decisive battle, or the 
dismemberment of an empire — are regarded as 
no concern of theirs. This kind of indifference 
is not the result of philosophy, nor of proper at- 
tention to their own affairs. It is an apathy de- 
pending on defective cerebral energy, liable, on 
the occurrence of the first adverse incident, to 
be converted into active disease. Every hospi- 
tal in the land abounds with representatives of 
this class, especially from the older parts of the 
country, where things have become somewhat 
fixed, and life flows on with the least possible 
amount of distraction. In settling the general 
question of the utility of lectures and gatherings 
and public amusements, their hygienic effect in 
quickening the torpid energies of such persons 



108 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

ought not to be overlooked. They might serve 
to kindle a little emotion, or excite a little intel- 
lectual effort, and thus prevent the current of 
their mental life from becoming utterly stag- 
nant. 

At what age precisely the mind enjoys its 
highest vigor, is capable of the greatest efforts 
and the greatest endurance, is a question that 
cannot be very definitely answered, and yet it 
would seem as if some standard should be fixed 
upon whereby to graduate the degree of mental 
application at the different periods of life. Ex- 
amples are not rare of elderly scholars, especially 
in Germany, who habitually devoted twelve 
or fourteen hours a day to hard study. A 
distinguished American jurist was accustomed, 
for several years immediately preceding his 
death, which occurred after the age of seventy, 
to spend fourteen hours a day in writing an 
historical work, and in other literary employ- 
ment. No class of men, probably, perform so 
great an amount of intellectual labor as Eng- 
lish and American judges, sitting in court, as 
they do, a large part of their time, six or eight 
hours a day, with their minds constantly on 
the stretch, amid the disadvantages of badly 
warmed, badly ventilated apartments ; and 
thence retiring to their chambers, perhaps, to 
investigate a question of law, or prepare a judg- 



PHYSICAL INFLUENCES. 109 

ment. The most of these men are past the me- 
ridian of life. It is not quite certain, however, 
that such labors do not make serious drafts on 
the constitution. Instances that seem to show 
a different result are, probably, exceptions to the 
general rule. 

There is much reason to believe that the de- 
velopment of mental power proceeds, by equal 
steps, with that of the body, — that it is pre- 
cisely at that period when the physical powers 
are most mature, that the mind is capable of the 
most close and successful application. No one 
would think of looking for this period after the 
age of forty-five ; and as little should we look 
for it, notwithstanding the achievements of 
some youthful Hercules, on the earlier side of 
twenty. Power of physical endurance, of meet- 
ing that wear and tear of the vital forces that 
results from continuous and protracted activity, 
proceeds from a certain maturity of the bodily 
organization, and that strength which only hab- 
itual trial can generate. Before the age of 
twenty, this kind of maturity and strength is sel- 
dom witnessed ; and experiments made on a 
large scale, as in war and colonization, furnish 
abundant proof of this fact. During the last 
years of the first French Empire, when the con- 
scriptions were frequently anticipated in order 
to supply the frightful waste of life produced by 



110 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

its sanguinary wars, Napoleon often com- 
plained that the young conscripts they sent 
him were fit only to encumber the hospitals and 
road-sides. During the period, then, varying 
not far from thirty on the one side, and forty- 
five on the other, the body enjoys its maximum 
of vigor and power of endurance; and it is dur- 
ing this period that the history of studious men 
leads us to believe that the mind displays cor- 
responding attributes. Of course this is meant 
for a general statement only, to which there are 
numerous exceptions. The history of literary 
and scientific men furnishes many an illustrious 
example of intellectual power undimmed and 
undiminished by the influences of old age. Ba- 
con, Milton, Burke, Cuvier, exhibited, to the very 
last the same ability which distinguished their 
earlier years. It may be doubted, however, 
whether this kind of exemption from the effects 
of age is not chiefly confined to men of extraor- 
dinary endowments. They are too few T , per- 
haps, to furnish the ground of a fair compari- 
son; but, certainly, it is difficult to point out a 
single instance of such a man exhibiting, with 
increase of years, indications of mental deterio- 
ration, while they are common enough among 
the inferior grades of intellect. 

How much a man may use his brain without 
endangering its health, is a question that admits 



PHYSICAL INFLUENCES. Ill 

of no definite answer, because it depends very- 
much on the original stamina of the individual, 
and the intensity of his application. While it 
is easy, oftentimes, to see that this or that per- 
son is overtasking his powers, it is impossible 
to lay down any general rule on the subject that 
would not require too much of some and too 
little of others. In youth and early manhood, 
especially if the constitution is deficient in 
vigor, there would be danger from a degree of 
application, that might be safe enough at a later 
period, when the brain has become hardened by- 
age and regular labor. So, too, habits of active 
physical exercise will enable a man to accom- 
plish an amount of intellectual labor that would 
utterly break down one of sedentary habits. 
After making all due allowance for these differ- 
ences, I think we may say, that few can exceed 
six hours a day of close mental application, 
without seriously endangering the health of the 
brain, while for most persons a not unreasona- 
ble degree of prudence would prescribe a much 
shorter period. It would not be easy to adduce 
many instances of persons who, for some length 
of time, had devoted more than six hours a day 
to pursuits requiring the exercise of the higher 
intellectual faculties, without impairing their 
powers, and failing to accomplish any results 
corresponding to the magnitude of their efforts. 



112 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

We hear, indeed, of persons studying ten or 
twelve hours in the day, but, with an occasional 
exception, it may well be doubted whether 
more would not be actually accomplished 
within shorter limits. In most persons, long be- 
fore this period is finished, the process of think- 
ing goes on heavily, the mind loses its power of 
original conception ; and the result of its labors, 
while in this jaded condition, lacking the vigor 
and brilliancy of a fresh effort, is said to smell 
of the lamp. 

Men who have been long accustomed to write 
books, and experience a certain pleasure in the 
exercise, unite in declaring that five or six hours 
a day in the labor of composition, year in and 
year out, cannot be profitably exceeded. Sir 
Walter Scott, than whom few literary men 
have accomplished a greater amount of intellec- 
tual labor, by reason of a naturally strong con- 
stitution, good habits of exercise and recreation, 
and a cheerful tone of mind, emphatically de- 
clared that six hours a day was the utmost limit 
of his taskwork; and the correctness of his 
statement was painfully verified in the latter 
part of his career, when the desire of retrieving 
his fortunes induced him to exceed this stint. 
The melancholy result is known to every one, 
and it forms a chapter in literary history unsur- 
passed by any other in its deep, tragic interest. 



PHYSICAL INFLUENCES. 113 

His health soon suffered, and that noble intel- 
lect which seemed almost beyond the reach of 
blight or decay, utterly broke down and passed 
away. It may be said, perhaps, that Scott was 
engaged in the most exhausting description of 
mental exercise, — the composition of works 
that the world will not soon forget, — and, con- 
sequently, was unable to prolong his working 
hours to a limit quite safe for those whose men- 
tal labors consist merely in adding up figures, 
in counting money, or any other intellectual 
drudgery. There is something in this, no doubt; 
but it must be considered that if his work were 
more arduous, the power of accomplishing it 
derived from vigorous health, a cheerful temper- 
ament, active exercise, and strict temperance, 
has seldom been equalled. Those civic pursuits 
which keep the mind on the stretch for six or 
eight hours a day are accompanied by few of 
those advantages, and the daily waste of nervous 
energy is not repaired, as far as it might be, 
by appropriate habits of living. In our princi- 
pal towns and cities, the period allotted to busi- 
ness of one kind or another, is from six to ten 
hours a day. During all this time the mind 
may not be engaged in the severest kind of ex- 
ercise — although with many this is actually so 
— but it is constantly on the alert, and under a 
pressure of excitement. With a very large pro- 



114 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

portion of men, life is a constant straggle with 
circumstances, not confined entirely to hours of 
business. The objects they have set before 
them, whether near or remote, are surrounded 
with difficulties that cannot be overcome with- 
out effort nor contemplated without anxiety. 
Every day is laden with some new experience 
of hopes deferred or fulfilled, of enterprises that 
have failed or succeeded, of labor crowned by 
abundant fruit or followed by barren results. 
The class in question embraces, not merely 
those who are aiming at the glittering prizes of 
life, but the countless multitude who, with hum- 
bler views, are still endeavoring, to use the pop- 
ular phrase, to better their condition. They 
make no mark upon the world ; indeed they are 
scarcely noticed amid the crowds that throng 
the great avenues of life, but to each belongs a 
brain throbbing with every pulse of the swelling 
tide that leads on to wealth, honor, or distinc- 
tion. ' Their number is constantly increased by 
all the tendencies of the age, but the power to 
meet this draft upon their mental energies is not 
increased by judicious training or proper self- 
discipline. I need not say how imperfectly any 
stated period of time can indicate the exact 
amount of mental activity to which such people 
are subject. Long after the visible close of 
business, the mind is fixed upon the events of 



PHYSIGAL INFLUENCES. 115 

the day, and moments that are supposed to be 
given to repose or recreation are still occupied 
by the teeming, toiling brain. 

I scarcely need remark how often, among 
men whose pursuits are exclusively intellectual, 
the limit of daily downright work is extended 
far beyond six or eight hours. Especially is this 
the case in the legal profession. Between con- 
sultations in his office, attendance in court, and 
the preparation of cases for trial, the lawyer in 
full practice is occupied, the greater part of the 
time not given to sleep, in mental exercise of 
the severest description. In this respect, the bar 
is quite equalled by the bench, whose inexorable 
duties require an amount of close and continu- 
ous application seldom surpassed in any other 
department of professional labor. The cler- 
gyman of our times, too, especially if he have 
achieved any degree of eminence, scarcely has an 
easier lot. To supply the weekly tale of rhetoric 
and oratory which modern refinement demands, 
there is required a degree of mental activity 
which, however easy it may become by habitual 
practice, is exhausting even to those most hap- 
pily endowed. When we add to this the many 
extraordinary calls that task his powers, and 
which must be promptly and discreetly met, and 
bear in mind the pernicious habit of night-work 
so common with clergymen, as well as their 



116 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

notorious neglect of the plainest rules of hygiene, 
we cannot be surprised that their career is so 
often brief and painful. 

In persons who are thus working beyond their 
strength, there sometimes comes on a kind of 
nervous erythism which makes them crave the 
excitement of work as something necessary to 
their very existence. Scott, while striving with 
all the might of his marvellous intellect to dis- 
charge the claims of his creditors, could no 
longer confine himself to the customary stint of 
five or six hours. The immense increase of his 
task-work only stimulated instead of enfeebling 
his energies, while he shrunk from rest as if it 
were a forced and unnatural state. His phy- 
sician remonstrated in vain. " I tell you what 
it is, doctor," he replied, " Molly, when she puts 
the kettle on, may just as well say, ' Kettle, 
kettle, don't boil.' " In a letter to a friend about 
this time, he says : " Dr. Abercrombie threatens 
me with death, if I write so much ; and die, I 
suppose I must, if I give it up suddenly." A 
gentleman in this city, justly distinguished both 
in law and literature, in describing his own case, 
tells the same story in brief but graphic terms : 
" I begin to think that I am losing the power 
of rest and repose, and that, like an over-driven 
cab-horse, I should drop down if taken out of 
the thills." Cases like these are not confined to 



PHYSICAL INFLUENCES. 117 

the walks of literature. Many a man immersed 
in the active pursuits of civic life, finds his fac- 
ulties strained to a degree of tension appar- 
ently inevitable, while the idea of relaxation 
seems to be equivalent to that of dissolution. 
Such is one of the fearful penalties that follow 
the violation of that natural law which ordains 
that work, when carried beyond a certain point, 
is no longer a source of health and enjoyment. 
There is another kind of cerebral labor in 
regard to which it is of the utmost importance 
that the theory and practice of the community 
should be correct, — I mean that which is im- 
posed upon the young in the process of educa- 
tion, under the name of study. To say that 
it has always or generally been determined by a 
careful consideration of the laws of physiology, 
and a scrupulous regard to the results of expe- 
rience, would be to utter the broadest possible 
irony. Unfortunately, the question has been 
almost universally overshadowed by another and 
a very different one, in most modern communities, 
viz. what will satisfy the public, — [that public 
which mistakes the glitter of display for solid ac- 
quirement, and measures the skill of the teacher 
by the rapidity with which the pupil is pushed 
forward."! The radical fault is the same which 
characterizes our movements in other depart- 
ments of effort. We grudge the time a sound 



118 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

education necessarily requires, and are impatient 
to turn the acquisitions of the pupil to some 
practical account. [Discipline and development 
may be theoretically recognized jas legitimate 
objects of education, LJbut, practically, they are 
subordinate tojjthat which predominates over all 
others, viz. the means of distinction which it 
gives, — the gjiedals, prizes, honorsj These are 
to be obtained, if possible, and obtained quickly. 
Here, as in everything else, speed is the great 
test of merit. .Lesson is piled upon lesson, the 
hours of study are increased, and the active, 
irritable brain of tender youth ip habitually 
forced to the utmost power of efFortl 

Governed by the mechanical spirit of the age, 
we have formed the habit of regarding the 
youthful brain in the light of a machine that 
may be worked to the utmost limit of its capac- 
ity. Recreation and rest are regarded as a loss 
of valuable time, and the lying idle of capital 
that should be continually productive. This 
view of the matter arises from the fallacy, that 
the growth and development of the mind are 
in exact relation to the amount of task-work it 
has accomplished. The history of our country, 
to go no farther, furnishes little support to such 
a notion. The distinguished men whose early 
years were spent in an unceasing attendance 
upon schools and academies, are far outnum- 



PHYSICAL INFLUENCES. 119 

bered by those whose means of instruction con- 
sisted in a few months' schooling in the winter, 
and a diligent pondering of such scraps of lit- 
erature as might be picked out of the basket 
of the itinerant pedler. If I am told that such 
men achieve their greatness in spite of the 
deficiencies of education, and that the benefit 
of the forcing system is better exhibited in the 
elevation of an inferior order of minds, I. would 
still reply that the position, even thus modified, 
finds no stronger support. If we look into the 
walks of commerce, agriculture, or manufactures, 
and learn the history of those who, without be- 
ing great, hold a marked position in society, I 
think the result of the inquiry will strengthen 
the view we have taken. Of course, the im- 
portance of systematic education cannot be 
questioned, but it must be borne in mind that 
the efficiency of education is indicated more by 
the power and endurance which it imparts than 
by the amount of its immediate visible effects. 
Undoubtedly, the tree may be judged by its 
fruits ; but let us not confound with the ripe 
and full-grown fruits that crown the harvest, the 
ephemeral blossoms that excite the admiration 
of the beholder, and forthwith perish, leaving 
not a trace behind. 

The amount of daily task-work that may be 
safely required of the young, in the process of 



120 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

education, may be ascertained with some ap- 
proach to correctness, by adopting as a standard 
of comparison that which is regarded as the 
most suitable for the adult mind. Of course, it 
should vary somewhat with differences of nat- 
ural endowment and vigor, but it can scarcely 
be questioned that it cannot safely exceed the 
limit of greatest performance assigned to the 
full-grown intellect. 

/ It may be objected to this conclusion, per- 
haps, that the exercises of school require no 
such strain upon the mind as the effort of com- 
position, especially as the former are chiefly a 
matter of memory, and not original creation. 
There may be something in this, but not 
enough surely to forbid the inference we have 
drawn. These lessons of the child are not 
merely to be committed to memory and re- 
peated, but they are to be understood, if possi- 
ble, and this implies the exercise of the higher 
faculties of the mindy f In the study of lan- 
guages, for instaneejtKe meaning of words, the 
relation of one word to another, the force of 
expressions, frequently cannot be ascertained 
without reference to cognate words and ex- 
pressions ; and amid a multiplicity of sugges- 
tions, some effort of sagacity is required in 
order rightly to choose between them. In the 
study of mathematics, too, those truths which 



PHYSICAL INFLUENCES. 121 

seem so obvious when once they are worked 
out, cannot be mastered without a concentration 
and continuity of attention, which imply effort 
and fatigue. In mental science, also, if the per- 
formance of the pupil is to be anything better 
than a parrot-like repetition of what is con- 
tained in the book, there must be an effort of 
abstraction and introspection which, to a young 
mind totally unaccustomed to such an exercise, 
is no easy work. Besides, in the two cases 
supposed, it is to be considered that the writer 
has the advantage of familiar practice, takes 
easily to his work, and the toil is lightened and 
cheered by the hope of substantial reward. Un- 
less, therefore, we greatly misapprehend the na- 
ture of the connection between mental activity 
and the organic condition of the brain, we have 
a right to conclude, that the youthful powers 
may be not less severely tried by five or six 
hours' attention to the above-named studies, 
than the adult mind by the practice of writing 
for the same period. But this is not all. The 
young and the adult brains possess very unequal 
capacities of application and endurance. It is 
the law of the animal economy that the various 
organs do not arrive at their full maturity of 
vigor and power, until some time after the adult 
age has fairly commenced. To suppose the 
youthful brain to be capable of an amount of 



122 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

task-work which is considered an ample allow- 
ance to an adult brain, is simply absurd, and 
the attempt to carry this folly into effect must 
necessarily be dangerous to the health and effi- 
ciency of this organ. 

Now let us look at the particular facts in the 
case, and see what amount of labor is habit- 
ually imposed upon the young, in the shape of 
school-exercises ; how much time must be spent 
upon them by the mass of the pupils in order to 
obtain a respectable standing in the school ; and 
what is the effect of all this effort on the mental 
health. 

Six hours a day, for the most part, is the 
allotted school-time in this part of the coun- 
try. Occasionally we find it five, and as often, 
probably, seven. The rooms, with some rare 
exceptions, are badly warmed and badly venti- 
lated, the thermometer ranging, in winter, from 
55 to 80, and the air contaminated by the respi- 
ration of one or two hundred pairs of lungs, and 
the impurities that arise from a leaky, over- 
heated stove or furnace. The time not devoted 
to study is occupied in recitations, or exercises 
that require a considerable degree of mental 
activity. To accomplish all the tasks, the regu- 
lar school-hours are seldom sufficient, and more 
or less time must be given to study out of 
school. It may be a single hour ; it may be 



PHYSICAL INFLUENCES. 123 

two, three, or four. The time will be deter- 
mined by the amount of the tasks ; by the ambi- 
tion, capacity, or excessive anxiety of the pupil. 
With quick-witted children, who have no very 
strong desire to excel, and those who have 
neither desire nor capacity to excel, it is short. 
On the contrary, with the sluggish but conscien- 
tious intellects, — with the ambitious who strive 
for distinction, and the morbidly sensitive and 
timid, — it is long. However this may be, it is 
none the less a veritable fact, that in New Eng- 
land, to go no farther, more or less study out of 
school is the general rule for all except the very 
youngest scholars. This has been sometimes 
questioned, if not positively denied, upon some 
show of authority, perhaps, but on very unsatis- 
factory grounds. The statements of a host of 
parents who must be supposed to know some- 
thing of the occupations of their children at 
home, and of physicians whose professional du- 
ties often oblige them to make careful inquiry 
on this subject, would seem to leave nothing 
wanting in proof of our assertion. If particular 
facts are required, nothing can be better than the 
actual lessons, w^hich will furnish every one 
the means of judging for himself whether the 
tasks can be accomplished in school. Here are 
the lessons for a single day, given out not long 
since, in a public school, to a class of girls 



124 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

from twelve to fifteen years old. I have no rea- 
son to doubt that it is a fair specimen of the 
daily work of the class. I mention no names, 
because they are immaterial to the point in 
hand : — 

In Leach and Swan's Arithmetic, the 13th, 14th, and 15th 
examples on the 181st page, and four extemporary. 

In Greene's First-Lessons in Grammar, the 149th page as 
far as the 6 th sentence, to analyze. 

In Smith's Quarto Geography, the Physical Geography -of 
Europe. 

In Leach's Spelling-Book, the 59th and 60th pages, [con- 
taining 162 words of two or three syllables.] 

School-times 6 hours; average time occupied in recita- 
tions, 2 hours. 

Here, again, is a day's work, taken at random, 
of a more advanced class of girls, from fourteen 
to seventeen : — 

In Brockelsby's Astronomy, about 2 pages. 

In Davies's Geometry, the 8th, 9th, and 10th propositions 
of the Fourth Book. 

In Poitevin's French Grammar, one page and ten verbs. 

An exercise in composition once a fortnight. 

School-time, 5 hours ; time occupied in recitations, from 
2-jL to 3 hours ; in general exercises and recesses, 1 hour. 

The following were the lessons for a single 
day, assigned to a class of boys from twelve to 
fifteen years old : — 

In Sher win's Algebra, the 5th section. 
In Worcester's History, one page in advance and two re- 
viewed. 



PHYSICAL INFLUENCES. 125 

In Fasquelle's French Course, lesson 12th ; review, exer- 
cise 13th, three irregular verbs. 
School-time, 6 hours. 

These may be considered as average exam- 
ples of the amount of work now put upon the 
youthful brain. They are the first that came to 
hand, but I have reason to believe that addi- 
tional statistics of this kind would oftener show 
a larger than a smaller requirement. They will 
enable every one to judge for himself, with suf- 
ficient accuracy, whether the strain to which 
they subject the mind is or is not compatible 
with the highest degree of healthy endurance. 
In the first example, there is required, out of 
school, according to the statement of one of the 
class, a girl of average intellect, about two 
hours of study a day — sometimes more and 
sometimes less — making an aggregate of eight 
hours. In the second, the time given to study 
out of school is estimated by one of the class, 
standing at or near its head, to be from three to 
four hours. In the third, the history and the 
French are studied out of school. How much 
time this would take, any one may judge for 
himself. 

In connection with this matter of out-of- 
school study, it must be considered that much 
of it is pursued in the evening, often until a late 
hour — a practice more pernicious to the health, 



126 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

in youth or adult, than any other description of 
mental exercise. The brain is in no condition 
for sleep immediately after such occupation. 
The mind is swarming with verbs and fractions 
and triangles, and a tedious hour or two must 
pass away before it falls into a restless, scarcely 
refreshing slumber. Jaded and dispirited, it 
enters upon the duties of the day with little of 
that buoyancy which comes only from " nature's 
sweet restorer." 

/Thus it is that, in all our cities and populous 
villages, the tender mind is kept in a state of 
the highest activity and effort, six or eight hours 
a day, for several years in succession, with only 
such intervals of rest as are furnished by the 
weekly holiday and the occasional vacation. 
Sunday can hardly be admitted among these 
intervals, for that day also has its special school, 
with its lessons and rewards. In other words, 
it is subjected to an amount of task- work, which, 
estimated merely by the time it requires, is 
greater than what may be considered a proper 
allowance to a cultivated, adult mind! Among 
the easier classes of our people, the work of 
education is accomplished, to a considerable 
degree, in boarding-schools. Here, the induce- 
ments are stronger, perhaps, than in the public 
schools, to go over the greatest possible extent 
of ground. The pupils are somewhat advanced, 



PHYSICAL INFLUENCES. 127 

the terms are high, and much is expected from 
the outlay. Numerous attainments and bril- 
liant accomplishments, rather than sound learn- 
ing and good mental discipline, might naturally 
be expected under such circumstances, and such, 
I apprehend, is the ordinary result. Especially 
is this the case in schools for girls, on whom, 
with their more susceptible nervous organization, 
the system inflicts far more mischief than on 
the hardier nature of boys. In all our larger 
cities are fashionable schools, to which the 
daughters of the opulent families resort to ob- 
tain the finishing touches of what is called their 
education. The work must be accomplished 
speedily, for they are in haste, dropping forever 
all thoughts of study and instruction, to taste 
the pleasures of society. 

The daily routine of one of this class of 
schools is exhibited in the following statement 
furnished by a pupil. The girls rise at six. 
Prayers at seven, and then study till eight. 
Breakfast. From nine to three, in school with 
fifteen minutes of recess. Dinner. Walk. One 
hour's study. One hour's recreation. Supper 
at seven. From eight to nine, study. Prayers 
and to bed. Other schools of a similar class 
present but little difference in regard to the 
amount of study and of recreation. 

In villages and smaller towns may be found 



128 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

another class of boarding-schools designed for 
a different description of girls, in which the 
useful is supposed to predominate over the 
ornamental. The amount of study, however, 
seems to be greater than in the more fashion- 
able schools. In one of them, I find the daily 
exercises, as follows. The girls rise at half past 
five ; put rooms in order ; breakfast ; study from 
seven till nine ; school from nine till twelve ; 
then dinner ; after which relaxation till half past 
two, when school begins and continues till five ; 
walk in the open air, or calisthenics in doors, 
till tea ; study from seven till nine ; prayers, and 
to bed at ten. 

The following communication, entitled, by 
the young lady who sent it, Life in a Boarding- 
School, displays more exactly the manner in 
which the time of the pupils is occupied. " We 
rose at half past five. At six, one of the room- 
mates went to the parlor to study, while the 
other remained in her room until half past six, 
devoting the time ostensibly to meditation. At 
a quarter before seven, we breakfasted, and then 
put our rooms in order. At half past seven, 
those who studied before breakfast went to their 
rooms for meditation, while the others, who had 
meditated at that time, now studied half an 
hour. From eight till fifteen minutes before 
nine, all were obliged to study. From nine till 



PHYSICAL INFLUENCES. 129 

twelve we were in school, with fifteen minutes' 
recess. Dinner at half past twelve, and study 
from a quarter after one to a quarter before two. 
At two went into school again, and stayed till 
half past four or five, — I cannot remember 
which, — with fifteen minutes' recess. The time 
till eight was given to recreation, tea included. 
From eight till nine the two ' half hours ' were 
spent by the room-mates in the same way as 
before breakfast, each girl going to her room 
alone. At a quarter after nine we went to bed, 
and at half past nine every light was put out, 
and not a word, even in a whisper, was to be 
spoken after that. Saturday was mostly a holi- 
day. In the morning we had the two ' half hours,' 
and then an hour and a half for study. After 
that until dinner we were obliged to remain in 
our rooms to attend to our wardrobe, &c. The 
afternoon was entirely our own. We could 
walk, drive, and do what we pleased. The 
evening was spent like other evenings. Sun- 
day was anything but a day of rest for us. We 
rose half an hour later than on other mornings, 
and then had our ' half hour ' as usual. Until 
church-time we studied harder than on any 
other day in the week. All were obliged to at- 
tend service. We dined as soon as we got 
back from service, and then studied half an 
hour. After the afternoon service, we recited 
9 



I 



130 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

the Bible lesson for which we had been prepar- 
ing during the day. After tea, they had prayer- 
meetings in many of the rooms. From eight 
till nine, the two ' half hours ' again. Those 
who remained in the parlor were obliged to give 
an abstract of the sermons. During the study- 
hours, as well as school-time, we were not al- 
lowed to speak a word. As for talking, we quite 
forgot there was such an art, as out of the 
twenty-four hours there were only about five 
when we were allowed to speak to one an- 
other." 

The small proportion of time given to exer- 
cise and recreation, as indicated in these ac- 
counts, is a noteworthy fact, because it is 
signally short of what the whole system craves 
and needs, even under ordinary circumstances. 
\If anything can counteract the exhaustive effects 
of intellectual occupation during eight or J;en 
hours in the day^n young, growing girls, it is 
a liberal allowance of exhilarating exercise and 
recreation. J The little which forms a part of the 
boarding-school routine is not exhilarating, and 
therefore needs an essential element of what 
it should be. Neither is it a liberal allowance, 
for it usually consists of a stiff, formal walk 
in the public street or road, for an hour or less, 
when the weather permits, without any end or 
object beyond that of mere locomotion. Of 



PHYSICAL INFLUENCES. 131 

one school, it was said that i; in bad weather 
thev go into a narrow room in the basement; 
and keep themselves warm by jumping about. 
or hovering around a stove." 

"When it is considered too that, in addition to 
all this systematic mismanagement, the girls 
often sleep in crowded, ill-ventilated dormitories ; 
that their food is poor, and vitiated by all 
the abominations of American cookery ; that 
their meals are taken hurriedly, twenty minutes 
only being allowed for dinner, in one instance ; 
it ought not to be a matter of surprise, that so 
many of them finally become pale, languid, 
nervous, and hysterical. 

Bad as all this is. we often hear of mental 
exercises imposed upon students that are pos- 
itively frightful. The lapse of nearly fifty 
years has failed to obliterate from my own mind 
an uneasy remembrance of weariness and dis- 
tress occasioned by the effort of committing to 
memory, for a Sunday lesson, many a dreary- 
page of the M Assembly's Catechism." In fact, 
no faculty of the mind is so sorely pressed in 
all our schools as that of memory, for the rea- 
son, no doubt, that the results are more readily 
appreciated than those which come from any 
other kind of intellectual discipline. The fol- 
lowing statement would be almost incredible 
were it not made on unquestionable authority. 
" In the school in which I was educated [Win- 



132 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

Chester], it was the custom once a year that 
boys in the middle and lower classes should re- 
peat all the Latin and Greek poetry they had 
learned in the year, with such additions to it 
of fresh matter as each boy could accomplish. 
So much did our place in the school depend 
on success in this, and so severe was the rivalry, 
that although we were then only about fourteen 
years of age, the usual quantity for the boys 
to repeat was from six to eight thousand lines, 
which we did in eight different lessons, and it 
took about a week to hear us. One boy, in 
my year, construed and repeated the enormous 
quantity of fourteen thousand lines of Homer, 
Horace, and Virgil ; I heard him say it ; the 
master dodged him about very much, but he 
scarcely ever missed a single word. One won- 
ders in what chamber of the brain it could pos- 
sibly have been stored away. 

" Now I do not think that this excessive 
strain on the mnemonic faculty is calculated 
to strengthen it; nor do I believe that this or 
any other faculty ought to be so severely pressed. 
I have a lively recollection of the long-sustained 
exertion it required ; how, week after week, we 
rose early, and late took rest, in our anxiety to 
outstrip others, upon which our station in the 
school, and, I may say, the bread of many of 
us depended." * 

* Fearon. What to learn and What to unlearn. Lond. 1860. p. 93. 



PHYSICAL INFLUENCES. 133 

Let us now look at the effects of this im- 
moderate mental effort on the health of the 
mind. No doubt the greater part of the pupils 
go through the process without any appreci- 
able damage whatever. They proceed from 
one study to another, rapidly accumulating their 
acquisitions, and finish by knowing a little of 
everything, and no one can point out any im- 
pairment of their physical or mental health. 
From this it is too readily inferred that hard 
study is quite innocent of the mischief we at- 
tribute to it. We might as well ignore the dang- 
er of cholera or diphtheria, because the great 
majority of the community escape their attacks. 
Whether this kind of discipline is best calcu- 
lated to promote the future vigor and efficiency 
of the mind, is another and a very important 
question, which it forms no part of my present 
purpose to discuss. Upon a portion of the schol- 
ars — comparatively small, no doubt, though 
larger than it' is generally supposed — it is just 
as unquestionably disastrous. The proximate 
causes of this result are various. These youths 
may not have possessed the stamina of others ; 
their nervous system may have been unusually 
irritable ; or some moral motive may have in- 
duced them to prolong the hours of study to a 
limit beyond the power of the stoutest con- 
stitution to bear. However this may be, there 



134 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

remains the stubborn fact, that, in one way or 
another, they are suffering from excessive men- 
tal application. 

The manner in which the evil is manifested 
is not very uniform, but however various the 
results, they agree in the one essential element 
of a disturbed or diminished nervous energy. 
■ It rarely comes immediately in the shape of in- 
sanity, for that is not a disease of childhood or 
early youth. It impairs the power of concen- 
trating the faculties and of mastering difficult 
problems, every attempt thereat producing con- 
fusion and distress. It banishes the hope and 
buoyancy natural to youth, and puts in their 
place anxiety, gloom, and apprehension. It 
diminishes the conservative power of the animal 
economy, to such a degree, that attacks of dis- 
ease, which otherwise would have passed off 
safely, destroy life almost before danger is an- 
ticipated.^ Every intelligent physician under- 
stands thWfc, other things being equal, the chances 
of recovery are far less in the studious, highly 
intellectual child, than in one of an opposite 
description. Among the more obvious and im- 
mediate effects upon the nervous system, are 
unaccountable restlessness, disturbed and de- 
ficient sleep, loss of appetite, epilepsy, chorea, 
and especially a kind of irritability and exhaus- 
tion, which leads the van of a host of other ills, 



PHYSICAL INFLUENCES. 135 

bodily and mental, that seriously impair the 
efficiency and comfort of the individual. 

I have said that insanity is rarely an immedi- 
ate effect of hard study at school, but I do not 
doubt that it lays the foundation of many a later 
attack. When a person becomes insane, people 
look around for the cause of his affliction, and fix 
upon the most recent event apparently capable 
of producingjt; Post hoc propter hoc, is the com- 
mon philosophy on such occasions. But if the 
whole mental history of the patient were clearly 
unfolded to our view, we should often find, I ap- 
prehend, at a much earlier period, some agency 
far more potent in causing the evil, than the mis- 
fortune, or the passion, or the bereavement, or the 
disappointment, which attracts the common at- 
tention. Among these remoter agencies in the 
production of mental disease, I doubt if any one, 
-except hereditary defects, is more common, at the 
present time, than excessive application of the 
mind when young. The immediate mischief may 
have seemed slight, or have readily disappeared 
after a total separation from books and studies, 
aided, perhaps, by change of scene; but the 
brain is left in a condition of peculiar impres- 
sibility which renders it morbidly sensitive to 
every adverse influence. 

The precise period at which school instruction 
should begin will vary a little, of course, in dif- 



136 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

ferent children ; but I feel quite safe in saying 
that it should seldom be until the sixth or sev- 
enth year. Not that the mind should be kept in 
a state of inactivity until this time, for that is 
impossible. It will necessarily be receiving im- 
pressions from the external world, and these will 
begin the work of stimulating and unfolding its 
various faculties. Instinctively the young child 
seeks for knowledge of some kind, and its spon- 
taneous efforts may be safely allowed. With 
a little management, indeed, they may be made 
subservient to very important acquisitions. In 
the same way that it learns the names of its 
toys and playthings, it may learn the names of 
its letters, of geometrical figures, and objects of 
natural history. There can be but little danger 
of such exercises being carried too far. But the 
discipline of school, of obliging the tender child 
to sit upright on an uncomfortable seat, for sev- 
eral hours in the day, and con his lessons from 
a book, is dangerous both to mind and body. 
To the latter, because it craves exercise almost 
incessantly, and suffers pain, if not distortion, 
from its forced quietude and unnatural postures. 
To the former, because it is pleased with tran- 
sient emotions, and seeks for a variety of im- 
pressions .calculated to gratify its perceptive 
faculties. |The idea of study considered in re- 
lation to the infant mind, of appropriating and 



PHYSICAL INFLUENCES. 137 

assimilating the contents of a book, of perform- 
ing mental processes that require a considerable 
degree of attention and abstraction, indicates an 
ignorance of the real constitution of the infant 
mind that would be simply ridiculous, did it not 
lead to pain, weariness, and disgust And such 
is the strange abandonment of all practical com- 
mon sense on this subject, that many a person 
fails to view this practice in its true light, who 
would never commit the folly of beginning the 
training of a colt by taking it from the side of 
its dam, harnessing it to a cart or plough, and 
keeping it at work through a sultry summer's 
day. 

J At the age of six or seven, then, the child may 
be sent to school, or have its stated tasks. This 
period may be very properly anticipated in some 
cases, and delayed in others, but practically it 
will not be found expedient to vary from it 
much. Children of quick and mature minds 
may accomplish much before this age, but such 
minds should be held in check, rather than stim- 
ulated to exertion, and more dull and sluggish 
intellects should, for that very reason, begin their 
training without farther delay. The process of 
education, it must be considered, makes large 
drafts on the physical powers. Confinement to 
the benches of a schoolroom for several hours in 
the day, accompanied by close application of 



138 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

the mind, is a very different thing from the un- 
restrained use of the limbs and powers of loco- 
motion, and careless rambling of the attention, 
so natural to youth. A firm and robust child, 
of a sanguine temperament, will obviously meet 
the demand on his vital powers better than the 
thin, lymphatic, tenderly nurtured child whom 
the winds of heaven have not been allowed to 
visit too roughly. I fear these physical diver- 
sities have not been sufficiently considered by 
teachers, in regulating the mental discipline of 
their pupils ; for the medical man has frequent 
occasion to deplore, without being able to rem- 
edy, the mischief that arises from inattention to 
this fact. In regard to the character of the in- 
dividual mind in this relation, it need merely 
be said, that, if characterized by quickness and 
aptitude, it will bear a somewhat greater amount 
of exercise than one of an opposite character; 
but the risk of overworking a mind of the 
former temper is sufficient to deter us from 
increasing its tasks. 



MENTAL CONDITIONS AND INFLUENCES. 139 



CHAPTER III. 

MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY MENTAL CON- 
DITIONS AND INFLUENCES. 

We come now to consider a class of agencies 
more or less affecting the health of the mind, 
which are exclusively mental. In a great de- 
gree they are under our control, and it depends 
upon ourselves — upon our enlightenment and 
resolution — whether they are made instru- 
ments of good or of evil. It depends very 
much upon ourselves whether we so manage 
our minds, that every exercise will add some- 
thing to their capacity and vigor, or only detract 
from their energies, defeat their original pur- 
poses, and lead to a feeble, if not manifestly 
morbid, result. Owing probably to the disposi- 
tion to regard the mind as an indivisible prin- 
ciple, too little account has been made of its 
diversities, tendencies, and aptitudes, its suscep- 
tibility to outward influences, and its power, 
within certain limits, of modifying its manifes- 
tations. Philosophers lay down rules for the 
conduct of the understanding, and sages mark 
out the path which leads to virtue and happi- 



140 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

ness. But something more is needed to enable 
the mind to act efficiently, and to increase its 
capacity for labor and endurance. Many a 
man may assent to the precepts of Locke and 
"Watts, whose whole mental training is calcu- 
lated to nullify their teaching, and lead to a 
lame and impotent result. The problem pre- 
sented to every child of Adam is this, — having 
received certain powers of mind from nature, 
how are they to be managed so as to insure the 
greatest possible return ? Observe, it is not how 
he may succeed in writing a good poem, or 
making a great bargain, or creating a sensation, 
but how he can keep his mind at the working- 
point in every department of effort, whether 
that effort be poetry or philosophy, or the com- 
mon business of life, and in such a manner that 
its exercise be not hampered by debility or 
disease. 

In order to maintain the highest degree of 
mental vigor, it is necessary that every power 
which nature has bestowed shall have its right- 
ful share of influence in the habitual experience 
of the individual^ I do not mean that every 
power is to be cultivated alike, and that no par- 
ticular one is to preponderate in the moral or in- 
tellectual character. But every power is given 
us for wise and good purposes, and if any one 
is so entirely neglected that it might as well 



MENTAL CONDITIONS AND INFLUENCES. 141 

have never existed, or, worse still, so perverted 
as to minister to a very different end, then an 
element of strength is lost. The faculties and 
sentiments are not entirely distinct and inde- 
pendent of one another, although, if we choose, 
they may be cultivated and developed as if they 
had no very intimate connection. Much of our 
mental activity and mental training is exceed- 
ingly partial, that is, confined to a few of the 
powers, the rest being scarcely exercised at all, 
or remaining completely dormant. This kind 
of management is supposed to be required by 
the social condition of the race ; and, no doubt, 
if judiciously applied, with the qualifications in- 
cident to every general principle, it will insure 
a desirable result. But it may now be received 
as a settled truth, that no power of the mind 
can be entirely neglected without detriment to 
some of the rest. With all their independence, 
they stand in need of the check and correction 
and enforcement of one another. As well might 
the eye say unto the hand, I have no need of 
thee, or the head say to the feet, I have no need 
of you, as the ideal power say to that which in- 
vestigates causes and effects, I have no need of 
thee, or the religious sentiment say to the be- 
nevolent sentiment, I have no need of thee. 

No man can measure his own capacities, nor 
apply them to the best possible use, whose pow- 



142 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

ers have been very unequally cultivated. His 
mind will present a one-sided and imperfect 
character, wanting that full and rounded devel- 
opment which is necessary to practical achieve- 
ment in the great purposes of life. Men of this 
stamp may dazzle, and even astonish, but they 
accomplish little. Whatever form of mental 
activity they may display, they are apt to be led 
away by it into the pursuit of unprofitable 
schemes instead of directing it to fruitful results. 
It may even get beyond control altogether, and 
then begins to be morbid. Besides, if, under 
pretence of concentrating himself upon a partic- 
ular pursuit, a person neglects everything else 
capable of furnishing occupation to a rational 
mind, and loses his interest in whatever else 
most men regard as important or worthy of con- 
sideration, he is in danger, not only of frus- 
trating the very object he is after, but of losing 
entirely the healthy balance of his faculties. 
Much of the unhappiness of men arises from 
the fault in question, for the intellectual culti- 
vation and exercise to which they had looked as 
a means of social elevation and material pros- 
perity, only lead to failure and disappointment. 

Our limits will not admit of a very copious 
illustration of this point, and therefore we must 
be content with a few instances among the most 
common and significant. 



MENTAL CONDITIONS AND INFLUENCES. 143 

fbne of the most prolific sources of mental 
inefficiency in this our day and generation, is 
the undue cultivation of that power which^jun- 
der one name or anothe^ is chiefly occupied with 
conceptions of the beautiful, the exquisite, and 
whatever else is calculated to please the tastej 
excite emotion, or gratify and charm the fancy. 
No form of intellectual activity is so common 
as this. Under all degrees of refinement, — in 
sage or savage, idolater or saint, child or 
man, — it is equally obvious, varying only in the 
objects to which it is applied. In all, it relieves 
the hard, dull monotony of real life with inex- 
haustible sources of excitement and recreation. 
In youth and health and innocence, it gilds the 
future with the warmest tints of joy and hope, 
and invests every scene that it creates with a 
charm peculiarly its own. In disease its •nor- 
mal functions may be so disturbed that the con- 
ceptions become cheerless and painful beyond 
the experience of reality, and are bodied forth 
with a distinctness more vivid and terrible than 
any mere object .of sense could present. In 
youth, especially, is this faculty active ; and one 
of the crying faults of the education of our 
times is that it encourages its exercise to a de- 
gree incompatible with the claims of the other 
faculties. The license of youth is seldom cor- 
rected by the wisdom of riper years, and the 



144 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

whole mental history of the individual betrays 
the influence of this single fault. It begets a 
distaste for exact knowledge, for that is the fruit 
of laborious study ; it indisposes the mind to 
habits of continuous thought, and quenches all 
thirst for intellectual excellence. The pleasures 
of the imagination are always accessible, and 
they can be enjoyed with little of that prepara- 
tion which is needed in the case of other intel- 
lectual pleasures. This would be bad enough 
did the evil stop here, but it extends much far- 
ther. It actually incapacitates the individual 
for those intellectual efforts that are required for 
the great purposes of life, and circumscribes the 
sphere in which he can move with any degree 
of credit to himself or good to others. An im- 
agination thus indulged, and feeling none of 
those checks and balances which the cultivation 
of other faculties would afford, easily wanders 
into devious paths that lead at last to helpless 
and hopeless derangement. Life becomes a 
dream, and that dream needs only favoring cir- 
cumstances to be converted into delusion. I 
think it may be stated as one of the results of 
modern observation, that the man who enters 
upon life with no habits of - serious and con- 
nected thought, with no taste for investigating 
the causes and effects of the countless phenom- 
ena passing around him, with no practical ob- 



MENTAL CONDITIONS AND INFLUENCES. 145 

ject clearly set before him and worthy the pur- 
suit of a rational creature, whose joys and sor- 
rows, whose principles and motives, whose ends 
and aims, are fashioned by the plastic touch of 
his own busy imagination, cannot promise him- 
self exemption from mental disease, if at all 
predisposed thereto. 

Even where this exclusive cultivation of the 
ideal power is manifested in a devotion to 
poetry or the fine arts, the actual performance 
will always evince imperfections that spring 
from the neglect of the other faculties. The 
great poet or painter is far from being a man of 
one idea. He achieves his position, not more 
by the flights of his fancy, than by the wisdom 
that informs and animates his ideas. The 
Plays of Shakspeare abound with the practi- 
cal sagacity of Bacon's Essays ; the grandeur of 
Milton is derived, in no small degree, from his 
rich and varied learning; Leonardo, Michael 
Angelo, Raphael, sounded the depths of philos- 
ophy, and their immortal works bear many a 
trace of their large and liberal culture. 

The mischievous consequences of having but 
one idea are still more obvious where this idea 
springs from some over-stimulated sentiment or 
affection. A person's mind becomes strongly 
fixed, for instance, on his religious obligations, 
and he scarcely thinks of anything else. The af- 
10 



146 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

fairs of his fellow-creatures, and the great events 
of the time, are regarded as vanity of vani- 
ties when compared with the momentous con- 
cerns that engross his attention. At all times 
and on all occasions, he dwells upon the favorite 
theme, and wonders that others should not do 
like him. In short, the religious sentiment in 
such a person is divorced entirely from its 
proper relations to his fellow-men, and becomes 
a purely selfish emotion. The evil that flows 
from this condition varies with the mental con- 
stitution of those who manifest it, but in all it 
is deplorable, and has furnished some of the 
saddest chapters in the history of the race. In 
some it is an overweening confidence in their 
own religious condition, which may not always 
be allied to correct conduct. In some it is a 
rabid fanaticism, that shuts the heart against 
the claims of God and humanity ; that delivers 
them up an easy prey to the arts of unprincipled 
and crafty men, and precipitates them, perhaps, 
upon a career of pitiable extravagance and folly. 
In others it consists in distorted views of re- 
ligious truth, in excessive hopes or fears, in 
painful apprehensions and forebodings, and, 
finally, in fixed, it may be incurable, delusion. 
And thus it happens that a sentiment, intended, 
beyond all others, when properly trained and 
regulated, to promote the present and future 



MENTAL CONDITIONS AND INFLUENCES. 147 

happiness of man, is turned into a source of un- 
utterable woe. 

The sentiment of benevolence, allying us, as 
it does, to the great Giver of all good, would 
seem, at first thought, less likely than any other 
to be the source of an unhealthy activity ; and 
yet when so strong as to be the predominant 
trait in the moral constitution, it is liable, in the 
class of cases under consideration, if not care- 
fully watched, to lead to the most painful re- 
sults. When thus indulged, life, duty, right and 
wrong, God and man, are often viewed solely 
by the light of this sentiment, with none of 
those softening shadows which the rest, under a 
more equal cultivation, would impart. Justice, 
discretion, expediency, even right, must all 
yield to the mere impulses of benevolence, 
which recognize no degrees nor shades in moral 
obligation. Oppression under any and every 
form must be immediately abated by an appeal 
to force ; reforms are to be thrust upon the 
world, regardless of time or season ; abuses are 
to be torn up by the roots, careless of the 
healthy growth around that may be injured by 
the process ; and individuals are held to be re- 
sponsible for any wrong with which they may 
be ever so remotely connected. Whatever is, 
is absolutely right or absolutely wrong, to be 
fondly cherished or summarily destroyed. No 



148 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

palliation of the evil is to be found in the at- 
tending circumstances ; no remedy is to be tol- 
erated that implies any prospective change in 
the delinquent. Thus, it becomes, at last, to be 
regarded as a sacred duty to vindicate the 
claims of abstract benevolence at whatever 
hazard, even though it lead through seas of 
blood and fire. Let those who thus allow their 
benevolent sentiments to shape their conduct 
and opinions reflect that, little as they may 
suspect it, every day is bearing them beyond 
the reach of those healthful activities which 
prevent eccentric movements of the mind from 
passing over the limits of safety. 

Time would fail to illustrate the many ways 
in which this exclusive cultivation of a single 
power impairs the efficiency of the mind. The 
fact itself cannot be doubted, and the reason is 
sufficiently obvious. It does not imply, how- 
ever, that every power should be equally culti- 
vated, for this would be impracticable in the 
nature of things. But it does imply that every 
power, having been implanted within us for a 
necessary purpose, should be enabled, by a ju- 
dicious conduct of the mind, to furnish its right- 
ful share in the formation of the moral and in- 
tellectual character. 

A partial cultivation of the mental faculties 
is incompatible, not only with the highest order 



MENTAL CONDITIONS AND INFLUENCES. 149 

of thought, but with the highest degree of health 
and efficiency. The results of professional 
experience fairly warrant the statement, that in 
persons of a high grade of intellectual endow- 
ment and cultivation, other things being equal, 
the force of moral shocks is more easily broken, 
tedious and harassing exercises of particular 
powers more safely borne, than in those of an 
opposite description ; and disease, when it 
comes, is more readily controlled and cured. 
The kind of management which consists in 
awakening a new order of emotions, in exciting 
new trains of thought, in turning attention to 
some new matter of study or speculation, must 
be far less efficacious, because less applicable, in 
one whose mind has always had a limited range, 
than in one of larger resources and capacities. 
In endeavoring to restore the disordered mind 
of the clodhopper, who has scarcely an idea 
beyond that of his manual employment, the 
great difficulty is to find some available point 
from which conservative influences may be pro- 
jected. He dislikes reading, he never learned 
amusements, he feels no interest in the affairs of 
the world, and unless the circumstances allow 
of some kind of bodily labor, his mind must 
remain in a state of solitary isolation, brooding 
over its morbid fancies, and utterly incompetent 
to initiate any recuperative movement. 






160 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

There are many persons in the world endowed 
by nature with what may be called ill-balanced 
minds — some faculties or sentiments being ex- 
cessively or deficiently developed, and thus pre- 
venting that cooperation and harmony of action 
necessary to the best results. The particular 
form which this sort of endowment may assume 
differs in different cases, and therefore cannot be 
generally described, but an instance or two will 
furnish a sufficiently correct idea of my mean- 
ing. 

In some it is manifested in a want of admin- 
istrative ability, or practical discernment. They 
have, apparently, good intellectual powers, they 
think vigorously and clearly, their plans are 
specious and comprehensive. They may be not 
without considerable knowledge of men, and 
some familiarity with the ways of the world. 
They may possess some force of will and energy 
of purpose, with a strong desire and determina- 
tion to excel. By those whose knowledge of 
character is not very profound, these men are 
regarded as eminently calculated to succeed in 
their undertakings, — an opinion not justified 
by the result. When the opportunity for action 
arrives, — when called on to apply their faculties 
to some practical purpose, — the mental defect 
appears, and they lamentably fail. The true 
relation between the idea elaborated in the mind 



MENTAL CONDITIONS AND INFLUENCES. 151 

and the idea embodied in actual form, between 
the conception and the execution, the project 
and the performance, is not clearly discerned, 
and the strongest effort results in an impotent 
beating of the air. The right thing is done at 
the wrong time, or in the wrong place ; the 
sagacious plan is carried into execution under 
circumstances incompatible with success; the 
master-stroke is delivered with a feeble hand, or 
an uncertain aim ; the favorable moment, the 
fortunate contingency, is unobserved, or ob- 
served too late. In short, the career of this class 
of persons presents an unbroken series of disap- 
pointments and failures. "When, to this kind of 
mental endowment, there is joined an over- 
weening estimate of one's own capacities, the 
result is still more disastrous, because more is 
attempted. Unable to discern the limits of their 
ability, these persons are apt to presume beyond 
the measure of a safe confidence, and are ever 
ready to attribute their failure to any other than 
the true source. 

There is another class, who, with talents ade- 
quate to almost anything, seem born to accom- 
plish nothing. Their ends may be worthy and 
well-defined, their aspirations pure and lofty, 
and their industry unflagging; but their career 
is determined rather by some adventitious cir- 
cumstances than by the essential conditions of 



152 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

the objects which they have placed before them. 
In a word, they are governed by fancy rather 
than judgment, and thus are led about by every 
ignis fatuus that comes in their way. They 
have no sooner made some perceptible progress 
towards their object than their attention is 
diverted to more attractive paths, which are 
ardently pursued for a season, to be, in their 
turn, abandoned the moment the gloss of novelty 
is lost. Discovering often that they have mis- 
taken their mission, they go through life, ever 
seeking, never finding it. They are ever on 
the verge of some grand discovery or brilliant 
achievement which always eludes their grasp, 
for lack of that unfaltering purpose, that con- 
centrated effort which alone will insure success. 
The very intensity of their conceptions blinds 
them to whatever is not directly before them, 
and, failing to see what everybody else sees, 
they are all the more confident in themselves, 
and less disposed to heed the suggestions of 
others. 

[Sometimes the imperfect balance of the mind 
arises from excessive or deficient development 
in the moral powers, with a result still more 
deplorable to the individual and to the world.] 
Some men, for instance, go on from the cradle 
to the grave, with only the most imperfect per- 
ception of those great moral distinctions which 



MENTAL CONDITIONS AND INFLUENCES. 153 

are obvious enough to most men of the same 
race and period. With them right and wrong 
are merely conventional terms, expressive of 
some relation to their immediate interests ; 
honor, honesty, integrity, only indicate a quality 
of character that may or may not be desirable, 
according to circumstances ; and duplicity, de- 
ceit, calumny, are only justifiable weapons in 
fighting the battle of life. This moral trait is 
not the result of bad education or extraordinary 
temptations, but of a natural defect, which dis- 
qualifies its possessor from discerning the immu- 
table, independent existence of right and wrong, 
virtue and vice, just as another defect prevents 
some persons from distinguishing colors. It not 
unfrequently appears in connection with great 
intellectual powers, and even strong religious 
sensibilities ; and then, if the individual does not 
prove to be a pest to the world, it is only 
because of some happy concurrence of circum- 
stances, which clearly renders the practice of 
virtue in some degree necessary to the further- 
ance of his own ends. These facts enable us to 
account for the conflicting opinions that have 
been passed on many a man who has made his 
mark on the times. They teach us why the 
same character, according as he is regarded from 
different points of view, or by different kinds 
of persons, may be deemed by one as both good 



154 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

and great, and by another as only selfish and 
cunning. 

Again, the moral defect may consist in an 
undue estimate of one's abilities. Some persons 
believe themselves competent to any thing to 
which their reckless ambition may aspire, and 
lay their plans on a scale of grandeur utterly 
beyond their reach. To question their preten- 
sions is to provoke their wrath, and make them 
enemies for life. Of course, they often exhibit 
a lamentable disproportion between their prom- 
ise and their performance ; failure waits upon 
every move, and they end with being the con- 
tempt of men, who, endowed with far less 
abilities, better know their measure, and what 
they are capable of doing. 

The passions, too, may be so inordinately 
developed as to impair the efficiency and hap- 
piness of the individual. Some persons for 
instance, with all the force of an instinct, view 
whatever passes around them with a jealous eye, 
— ever ready to find in the sayings and doings of 
others evidence of hostility or unfriendliness, and 
to see in the most trivial occurrences matured 
designs of annoyance. They are constantly 
breaking with their best friends, and spend 
their whole lives in converting the innocent 
occasions of private and public intercourse into 
pretexts for coldness and disaffection. Others 



MENTAL CONDITIONS AND INFLUENCES. 155 

are unfitted for happiness and usefulness by ex- 
cessive envy. Their blessings, whether small or 
great, are of little satisfaction, because others are 
enjoying what seem to them still greater. Fa- 
vors bestowed on others are regarded as proofs 
of the most culpable neglect of their own supe- 
rior deserts. They feel as if every one who has 
any reason to rejoice in the good things of life 
were guilty of a positive wrong towards them, 
and bound to make restitution and recompense. 
fit would be needless to multiply illustrations 
of the ill-balanced mind. Sufficient has been 
said to establish the fact, and exhibit its impor- 
tance in this connection. Such defects of nature 
can never be entirely remedied, but early judi- 
cious discipline and persistent self-control may 
do much to repress their growth\and counteract 
their effects. ^Xhis implies the highest function 
of education^and one t(oo much overlooked in 
an age which requires of the teacher only to fill 
the mind of the pupil with various knowledge^ 
It is well to bear in mind, too, that these defects 
not only impair the mental efficiency, but they 
are indicative of morbid tendencies which may 
be easily converted into positive disease, — a 
result which only the highest prudence in the 
conduct of life and the most skilful managment 
of the mind, will effectually prevent/ 

Man, as a social animal, is 'endowed with 



156 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

the faculties necessary for bringing him into 
relation with his fellow-men. They are bound 
together, not merely by that community of in- 
terests which is discovered by a process of rea- 
soning, but by an intuitive sense of the emo- 
tions which agitate the breast and determine 
the conduct and happiness of the individual. 
A principle more prompt and impulsive than 
the slow and cautious deductions of reason is 
required to meet all the exigences of the social 
state ; and its existence, in some of its forms 
at least, has long been recognized under the 
names of sympathy and propensity to imitate. 
It is in ceaseless operation wherever men are 
gathered together ; but whether quietly and ir- 
resistibly upon scattered individuals, or with 
tremendous manifestations of its power upon 
large masses, few are aware of its nature — 
many, not even of its existence — and fewer 
still apprehend the importance of rightly regu- 
lating its influence upon themselves. Educa- 
tion, habit, temperament may affect its opera- 
tion, but cannot eradicate it. The conditions 
on which it depends are imperfectly understood, 
and its effects are regarded with the same kind 
of surprise and curiosity with which we witness 
the most strange and unexpected phenomena 
of nature. 

The principle in question has been too much 



MENTAL CONDITIONS AND INFLUENCES. 157 

considered as a supplementary element in our 
mental constitution, manifesting itself in curious 
and anomalous phenomena rather than as an 
all-pervading, indispensable principle, without 
which the great ends of our being would utterly 
fail. It needs no profound knowledge of the 
springs of human action to perceive that every 
man's daily experience reveals, in some way or 
other, the operation of this law of our nature. 
Indeed it can hardly be questioned that, in 
populous communities, it determines, more than 
anything else, not only those great social move- 
ments which possess an historical importance, 
but also the sentiments and impulses which, 
for good or for ill, shape the views and conduct 
of the individual. Independent, self-originating 
movement is, probably, a far rarer thing than 
that which springs, more or less directly, from 
some outward source, which is to be found in 
the prevailing mental movements that, like the 
atmosphere about us, exert an increasing, uncon- 
scious, inevitable pressure. If these are distin- 
guished by disordered imagination, by grovelling 
propensities, by unhallowed desires, their ulti- 
mate influence on the individual mind will be 
devoid of every element of good. By an irresist- 
ible and inevitable law, they impart their own 
moral complexion to whatever they involve in 
their progress. The teachings of the school and 



w 



158 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

the church, and the precepts of philosophy and 
religion have much to do, no doubt, with shap- 
ing the character and conduct of men ; but the 
thoughts, emotions, and impulses awakened by 
the mental movements around them are often 
the efficient forces that determine the great 
events of life. To learn what a man will do 
in a given social emergency, we must look, not 
only to his special training and the prominent 
qualities of his character, but also to the cur- 
rents of feeling in which he moves and the tone 
of thought which prevails around him. The 
secret springs and forces of society are to be 
sought for, not in the treatises of morality and 
philosophy that happen to be in vogue, but in 
the newspaper, the pamphlet, the novel, the 
song, where, without concert or mutual under- 
standing, are displayed the objects and aspira- 
tions by which large masses of men are swayed. 
In this way is revealed the hygienic condition 
of the popular mind, between which and the 
nutriment it craves, there must always exist a 
very close relation. The ephemeral literature 
of a people will always indicate, therefore, the 
degree of mental strength, efficiency, and endur- 
ance, to which the people have attained. And 
it is in the moral atmosphere which they habit- 
ually breathe that we may find the forces 
which upheave the passions and quicken all 



MENTAL CONDITIONS AND INFLUENCES. 159 

the pulses of their being, rather than in the 
occasional influences that act directly and spe- 
cially on the individual. 

This view of the subject has been too little 
considered, for though it may be admitted in 
general terms, its practical application has al- 
ways been very defective. In looking for the 
origin of insanity, we are too apt to confine 
our attention to the class of influences which 
lie near at hand and directly before our face, 
and fail to discern those agencies which, though 
more remote and obscure, may be none the less 
efficient. The bereavement or misfortune which 
apparently drove reason from her throne may 
have had less to do with this result than the 
habitual train of thought and emotion which 
supplies the mind with no additional power, 
but rather diminishes its energies by its fruit- 
less activities. In regard to this latter class of 
agencies, the mind is governed very much by 
the law of sympathy. The deductions of rea- 
son are deliberately wrought out, every man 
working for himself, while sympathetic move- 
ments, even of the deepest character, are prop- 
agated with a kind of electric rapidity. 

The operation of this law may be witnessed 
in the daily life and habitual conduct of men. 
Any mental movement that can be manifested 
by sensible signs, excites in some degree a cor- 



160 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

responding movement in others. We are in- 
stinctively impelled — some more, some less, 
strongly — to imitate whatever others are feel- 
ing and doing around us. The passion or emo- 
tion exhibited by one excites the same passion 
or emotion in others, as a musical sound puts 
into vibration certain chords in its neighborhood, 
and thus is propagated to an indefinite extent. 
"Whoever lives in close communion with one 
who is irascible, peevish, and overbearing, is 
liable to become equally irascible and peevish, 
unless prevented by a large endowment of re- 
straining grace. The sad, depressed, and sor- 
rowing spirit will inevitably impart its leaden 
tinge to all who live within its shadow. The 
hopeful, the trusting, the strong, infuse their 
hope and strength into others, by the mere force 
of example; while the visionary, scheming, castle- 
building enthusiast unconsciously spreads the 
roseate hues of his own atmosphere over the 
humbler conceptions of his neighbor. In like 
manner, forbearance, gentleness, love, and kind- 
ness shed forth their genial influences in actual 
life, with more certainty of their taking root 
and abiding, than when formally inculcated in 
lessons of morality and religion. 

The instinctive propensity to imitate is mani- 
fested, as already intimated, irrespective of the 
qualities of the thing imitated, and to such a 



MENTAL CONDITIONS AND INFLUENCES. 161 

degree as to overpower the tendencies of culture 
and of grace. When the poet said, 

" Vice is a monster of such hideous mien, 
That to be hated needs but to be seen," 

he disregarded the fact that, under certain con- 
ditions of the nervous system, nothing is too 
monstrous to excite a feeling of sympathy lead- 
ing to imitation. Then murder, suicide, and 
other crimes, need only to be brought before the 
attention, in the shape of some actual exam- 
ple, especially if marked by striking incidents, 
in order to be repeated by many in whom, by 
reason of defective training, or morbid tendencies, 
whether congenital or acquired, or both com- 
bined, such narratives always touch some con- 
genial chord. It is a great mistake to suppose 
that cases of flagrant delinquency are always 
regarded, even by persons not very deficient, 
apparently, in moral or intellectual endowments, 
with sentiments of loathing, or even as mat- 
ters of curiosity, exciting only a transitory 
thought or emotion. The truth is, they often 
excite the very class of emotions in which 
these examples originated ; and thus is accom- 
plished the first step towards a repetition of 
similar acts. This result is produced in one 
of two ways : either directly, by touching some 
congenial spring in a mind prepared for it by 
morbid proclivities ; or indirectly, by familiarizing 
ll 



162 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

the mind with the aspects of vice, and thus 
blunting the original keenness of the moral 
perceptions. From one or the other of these 
causes, it happens that, in every community, 
there are multitudes ready to receive impres- 
sions that will, more or less seriously, derange 
their mental health. They are marked by no 
peculiarities ; they are supposed to be perfectly 
straight and sound, and when the disaster 
comes, it seems like thunder from a cloudless 
sky. It is this latent susceptibility to mental 
disorder which often renders the operation of 
the law of sympathy so pernicious, and converts 
an agency intended only to enlarge the sphere 
of our enjoyment, into an instrument of mis- 
chief and woe. 

The law of sympathy is no less efficient in 
the propagation of tastes, aptitudes, and habits. 
Over and above the appeal made by every ex- 
ample to the reasoning faculties, there is an in- 
stinctive tendency to admire what others admire, 
to seek distinction where it is sought by others, 
to fall into the same social routine which is fol- 
lowed in the community around us. In this 
process of assimilation the intellect is entirely 
passive, and the result is accomplished without 
calculation, and almost unconsciously. The in- 
dividual is transformed without being aware 
of the change. 



MENTAL CONDITIONS AND INFLUENCES. 163 

The same effect may be witnessed in the 
propagation of intellectual and political move- 
ments. Of course, special attainments can be 
achieved only by special efforts, and great truths 
are the rewards obtained only by toiling, per- 
severing genius. But the current opinions, the 
prevailing views, the general tone of thinking, 
which characterize the times and leave their 
mark on the fortunes of the race, are propa 
gated more by sympathy than by those con 
victions that spring from elaborate investigation 
Many, if not most of those remarkable move 
ments which constitute epochs in the history of 
the race, were not effected, apparently, by a 
course of patient preparation and persevering 
endeavor. So little were they anticipated, so 
surprising did they seem, even to those who 
witnessed their occurrence, that men were more 
disposed to gaze on them with wonder, than to 
seek for their causes and conditions. It would 
seem, sometimes, as if a new thought need only 
to be uttered to arrest attention and be followed 
by speedy conviction and effort. Independent 
of any process of logic, or any arts of rhetoric, 
it meets a hearty response, while the public 
mind, before unruffled as a placid lake, heaves 
and swells under the unwonted impulse. The 
Reformation by Luther, and the revolutions in 
America and France, were not altogether the 



164 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

results of arguments carefully prepared and for- 
cibly stated by the popular leaders, in favor of 
religious and political freedom, but, in a great 
degree, of those instantaneous and irresist- 
ible convictions which run from mind to mind 
with the rapidity of an electric flash. Such 
events can be explained upon no hypothesis 
that does not recognize the principle in ques- 
tion, though generally overlooked, or very in- 
adequately estimated, in the popular philosophy. 
Nothing shows more clearly the independence 
of this principle of any exercise of the will, 
than the fact that it sometimes involves the 
animal frame in its operation. The convulsions 
of hysteria, it is well known, are apt to be pro- 
pagated among young women by force of imi- 
tation. The same trait has been observed in 
chorea, stammering, and other nervous affec- 
tions. Boerhaave relates that the pupils of a 
squint-eyed schoolmaster, near Leyden, after a 
while, exhibited the same obliquity of vision. 
John Wesley, in describing the exercises of some 
of his converts, says that they were buffeted of 
Satan in an unusual manner, by such a spirit 
of laughter as they could in no wise resist, 
though it was pain and grief to them. He was 
the less surprised at it, he says, because he had 
himself experienced the same affection. One 
Sunday when he and his brother were walking 



MENTAL CONDITIONS AND INFLUENCES. 165 

in the fields and singing psalms, as was their 
custom, he (the brother) burst out into loud 
laughter. " I asked him if he were distracted, 
and began to be very angry, and, presently after, 
to laugh as loud as he. Nor could we possibly 
refrain, though we were ready to tear ourselves 
to pieces." * 

It would be inconsistent with my present 
purpose, to recount those scenes, — seldom wit- 
nessed now, happily, but still too often for the 
credit of modern enlightenment, — where, fa- 
vored by popular ignorance, religious fanati- 
cism, and false philosophy, the principle in 
question has been exhibited on a large scale. 
In the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth cen- 
turies, in schools, convents, and secluded vil- 
lages, they were of frequent occurrence, and 
characterized by many remarkable features. 
Beginning with a single individual, generally 
of the softer sex, the affection, whatever form 
it might take, rapidly spread through whole 
communities, and numbered its victims by 
scores and hundreds. Starting from some triv- 
ial nervous disturbance, it soon involved both 
the sensorial and muscular systems, and was 
manifested by every possible expression of ab- 
normal activity. And it must ever remain one 
of the wonders of human pathology, how rude 

* Journal, 9th May, 1740. 



166 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

peasants, young girls, and even children, with 
no knowledge of the world, and no training 
whatever, could at once perform feats of mus- 
cular power beyond the reach of the accom- 
plished gymnast, and imitate sounds and move- 
ments with the correctness of a professional 
actor. Anything beyond a brief allusion to 
some of these occurrences, our limits forbid. 

At the beginning of the seventeenth century, 
some fourscore women in the commune of 
Amou, France, were seized with a strong con- 
vulsive affection, during which they rolled and 
tumbled about on the ground, striking their 
heads against whatever stood in the way, and 
their limbs against each other; and the united 
effort of three strong men was unable, on one 
occasion, to restrain the movement of a single 
arm. During the paroxysm, the most of them 
barked or howled like a dog ; hence the disorder 
was called mat de Intra. In 1566, an orphan asy- 
lum in Amsterdam was the scene of one of these 
extraordinary affections. In the course of the 
paroxysm, the children would mew like a cat, 
climb trees, and run about the housetops, without 
falling or any other accident. An old writer 
relates that in a convent near Paris, a large 
number of the nuns were seized, every day at 
the same hour, with a remarkable nervous affec- 
tion which set them all mewing, " to the great 



MENTAL CONDITIONS AND INFLUENCES. 167 

scandal of religion." In 1642, one of those 
forms of nervous disorder which it was the cus- 
tom in those days to attribute to witchcraft, 
prevailed in a convent in Louviers, France. 
Among other convulsive movements which the 
nuns exhibited was that of bending back in the 
form of an arc until the head touched the floor, 
— the body thus resting on the head and feet 
only, and that without the help of the hands. 

The Trembleurs of Cevennes — a sect of 
French Protestants driven by persecution into 
a state of gross fanaticism, towards the end of 
the seventeenth century — preached and proph- 
esied, while their bodily frame shook with a 
strange agitation and trembling. Marshal Vil- 
lains, who witnessed some scenes in this epidem- 
ic, says that in one town, every woman and 
girl, without exception, appeared to be pos- 
sessed by the devil. The Convulsionnaires of 
St. Medard, as they were called, had only to lie 
down on the tomb of a venerated deacon of 
the church, — the Abbe Paris, whose remains 
were supposed to shed forth a healing influence 
upon bodily disease, — to be seized with the 
most wonderful contortions of the neck, trunk, 
and limbs, and often of limbs that had been 
paralyzed for years. x\mong the thousands 
thus affected were every description of per- 
sons, — professed devotees, sceptics, idlers, 



168 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

Jesuits, the halt, the lame, the blind, and chil- 
dren of tender years.* 

Never were such convulsive affections more 
extensively and curiously manifested than in 
the subjects of those great religious awakenings 
which agitated the Western States towards the 
beginning of the present century./ The bodily 
exercises by which they were characterized 
were classed and named by a clerical writer of 
the time, as, first, the falling exercise ; second, 
the jerking exercise ; third, the rolling exercise ; 
fourth, the running exercise ; fifth, the dancing 
exercise ; sixth, the barking exercise ; seventh, the 
visions and trances. In these various exercises 
were embraced almost every possible combina- 
tion of muscular movement, and the subjects of 
them were reckoned by hundreds and thousands. 
Of the jerking exercise, it is said, " His head 
was thrown or jerked from side to side with such 
rapidity, that it was impossible to distinguish 
his visage, and fears were entertained lest he 
should dislocate his neck or dash out his brains. 
His body partook of the same impulse, and was 
hurried on by like jerks, over every obstacle, — 
fallen trunks of trees, or, in church, over pews 

* All these epidemics have been described and discussed by an 
able writer on mental disease, — Calmeil, Be la folle consideree sous 
le point de vue pathologique, &c. Paris, 1845. These volumes are 
worthy the attention of every one interested in the study of mental 
phenomena. 



MENTAL CONDITIONS AND INFLUENCES. 169 

and benches, apparently to the most imminent 
danger of being bruised or mangled. It was 
useless to attempt to hold or restrain him, and 
the paroxysm was permitted gradually to ex- 
haust itself." " Sometimes the person was 
thrown down on the ground, when his contor- 
tions resembled those of a live fish, cast from 
his native element, on the land." The general 
character of the other exercises may be inferred 
from their names. As late as 1841 and 1S42, 
a preaching epidemic broke out in Sweden, 
which was marked by violent convulsive move- 
ments, and involved thousands in its course.* 
The same phenomenon was not unfrequently 
witnessed in the religious movement which 
prevailed in Ireland in 1857 and 1858. 

The epidemical character of suicide has long 
been recognized, and depends, no doubt, on the 
principle of sympathy. At the Hotel des In- 
valids, in Paris, a few years since, a soldier was 
found, one day, dead by hanging, and within a 
short time twelve others hanged themselves to 
the same post. When the post was removed, 
this strange epidemic ceased. But a volume 
would scarcely contain the accounts of epi- 
demic suicide that might be gathered from 
authentic sources. The propensity to homicide 

* S. Hanbury Smith, in Ohio Medical cy Surgical Journal, July, 
1850. 



170 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

is often, unquestionably, propagated in this 
way. In Paris, some thirty years ago, a young 
woman murdered her neighbor's child. The 
extraordinary circumstances attending the act, 
and the vivid discussion which it provoked 
among medical men, gave it an unusual degree 
of publicity and awakened an unusual interest 
in the public mind. At a session of the Acad- 
emy of Medicine, Esquirol stated that, within 
two months after this event, there came to his 
knowledge six instances of attempted homicide, 
among persons previously correct and beyond 
suspicion, — led to it, according to their own 
statement, by reading or hearing the details of 
this case. Several other members, on the same 
occasion, bore similar testimony touching the 
effect of that example. This is not an insu- 
lated fact. It happened to have been observed 
by men who understood its full significance, 
and therein alone was it peculiar or excep- 
tional. 

Mania in its ordinary form never prevails 
epidemically, but cases not unfrequently occur 
in the production of which the most efficient 
agency is the propensity to imitation. In per- 
sons overcharged with nervous sensibility, and 
especially those who have inherited tendencies 
to mental disease, this propensity is very liable 
to be aroused by intimate intercourse with the 



MENTAL CONDITIONS AND INFLUENCES. 171 

insane. Many curious examples may be found 
in the accounts that have come down to us of 
demoniacal possession — that strange delusion 
which has furnished so many a sad and horrible 
chapter to the history of the race. In the early 
part of the seventeenth century, it made its ap- 
pearance in a convent of Ursuline nuns at Lou- 
don, France. As most of them belonged to 
noble families, and were highly cultivated and 
accomplished, they received the unstinted atten- 
tions of the clergy, many of whom were sent 
by the ecclesiastical authorities to endeavor, by 
means of all the weapons of spiritual warfare, 
to expel the demons from the persons and pre- 
cincts of the afflicted sisterhood. Three of 
these exorcising priests, fathers Lactantius, 
Surin, and Tranquil, became possessed by the 
very demons they tried to cast out, the first and 
the last dying raving maniacs, while the other, 
after several paroxyms, finally recovered. The 
fiends which left father Tranquil in his last 
moments passed directly into father Lucas, who 
was at the bedside of the dying priest. Another 
scene in this Loudon tragedy furnishes addi- 
tional illustration of the doctrine. Among 
those who were accused by these nuns of con- 
tributing to their sufferings by demoniacal 
means, was Urban Grandier, a priest in the 
village, distinguished by his mental accomplish- 



172 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

merits, by the grace of his manners and the 
comeliness of his person, and by some passages 
of gallantry somewhat at variance with modern 
ideas of priestly propriety. For several months 
their accusations were scarcely heeded, but they 
were artfully directed from the first by those 
who had good reason to hate him ; and when 
ready to fail, they contrived to secure the all- 
powerful aid of Cardinal Richelieu, of whom 
Grandier had made a mortal enemy by means 
of some satirical verses. Ecclesiastical suspi- 
cion was finally roused, and judicial proceedings 
were ordered ; but at a time when courts were 
creatures of the Church or State, the result could 
easily be foreseen. Neither his sacred office, 
nor his prominent position in society, nor all the 
graces of his mind or person, could save him 
from the stake ; and we almost forget his vices 
in view of the propriety and steadiness which 
he displayed through every scene of his persecu- 
tion, the calm but resolute assertion of his inno- 
cence, and especially the heroic — I had almost 
said Christian — firmness with which he en- 
countered the final torture. Father Lactantius, 
who took an active part in the prosecution of 
Grandier, died thirty days after his victim, " in 
a state of fury and despair." Mannouri, the 
surgeon who testified that he found the devil's 
marks on Grandier's body, saw the ghost of the 



MENTAL CONDITIONS AND INFLUENCES. 173 

defunct priest constantly near him, until, at last, 
the perception became so vivid, that, on one 
occasion, he dropped to the ground in the excess 
of his terror, and died shortly after, with the 
dreadful image before him. Chauvet, a civil 
officer who bore some part in the trial, but was 
no believer in Grandier's guilt, was accused by 
one of the possessed, and, in consequence, fell 
into state of intense melancholy from which he 
never recovered.* 

In the witchcraft delusion of New England, 
towards the close of the seventeenth century, 
many of the persons accused confessed that 
they were guilty, and described circumstantially 
their meetings, their intercourse with Satan, 
and all the performances of the Witch- Sabbath. 
They were, unquestionably, sincere in their 
confessions. Born and bred as they were in an 
age of superstition, believing in the personality 
of the devil and in his visible presence among 
men, ready for any wonderful tale respecting his 
doings, and familiarized, in this manner, with 
images of diabolical agency, it was but a single 
and an easy step to conceive — made more 
easy under the morbid excitement which the 
circumstances of a public trial were so well cal- 
culated to produce — that they themselves had 

* Calmeil, De la folie, &c, ii. 54. See Trial of Urban Grandier, 
in Causes celefoes, I. ii. 350, 1735. 






174 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

been actual participants in the wondrous rites 
they had heard so vividly described. The idea 
once proclaimed, spread from one to another 
simply by force of contact. 

The lesson inculcated by the facts here re- 
lated should be faithfully studied and applied. 
Let all bear in mind that, by the very constitu- 
tion of the nervous system, they are more or 
less disposed to sympathize in any moral, intel- 
lectual, or physical movements that may 
strongly arrest their attention. No one can 
safely consider himself as exempt from the op- 
eration of the principle in question. They who 
are most confident of their power of resistance, 
often furnish the most striking illustrations of 
its irresistible influence. It is incumbent on 
all, therefore, who know these facts, so to regu- 
late their walk and conversation, as to expose 
themselves to no unnecessary danger. Inti- 
mate association with persons affected with 
nervous infirmities, such as chorea, hysteria, ep- 
ilepsy, insanity, should be avoided by all who 
are endowed with a peculiarly susceptible ner- 
vous organization, whether strongly predisposed 
to nervous disease, or only vividly impressed by 
the sight of suffering and agitation. \Not one of 
the least evils incident to insanity is, that the 
poor sufferer cannot receive the ministry of near 
relatives, without endangering the mental integ- 



MENTAL CONDITIONS AND INFLUENCES. 175 

rity of those who offer them ; and the common 
practice of removing the insane from their 
own homes is required, not more for their own 
welfare than the safety of those immediately 
around them. Parents and teachers should 
never forget that this proneness to imitate phys- 
ical suffering is particularly strong in the young. 
A single case of chorea or hysteria may be fol- 
lowed by a dozen others in the same school ; 
andTminor infirmities, like stuttering, and little 
singularities of any kind, are imitated uncon- 
sciously, while the attention is alive, and the 
organs are flexible and readily yield to every 

impression^ 

There is a remarkable phasis of this affection 
not unfrequently witnessed among persons pos- 
sessing unhealthy mental tendencies, which de- 
serves to be considered in this connection. I 
refer to\a morbid craving for that sympathy and 
the consequent attentions, that are usually be- 
stowed upon the sick and suffering, and which, 
if not met with the proper firmness and dis- 
cretion, may lead to most serious troubles It 
is confined almost, if not quite exclusively, to 
young women, and accompanied by delicate 
bodily health. It originates partly in a feeling 
of envy, and partly in that propensity to imita- 
tion which is quickened and perverted by their 
peculiar mental condition. They happen to 



ia^ 



i 



176 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

witness some case in the family or neighbor- 
hood, and the sight of the emotions and atten- 
tions to which it gives rise in others, makes a 
profound impression on their minds. Thence- 
forth they are possessed with the desire — I say 
possessed, because nothing better expresses the 
fact — of achieving a position gratifying, be- 
yond all others, to their perverted fancy. By a 
process of self-deception, of which they are al- 
most unconscious themselves, they magnify all 
the little occasions of ill-health which may 
really exist ; conceive every unusual sensation 
to be the sign of some serious affection ; are 
eager for drugs — the more nauseous the bet- 
ter — and derive satisfaction and comfort from 
the paraphernalia of a sick-room. The precise 
form of the ailment assumed is generally one 
which they have had an opportunity of witness- 
ing themselves, with such variations as their in- 
genuity may suggest. If it were a fit of hys- 
teria, then, w r ith a frequency which varies with 
the exigences of the case, the family are thrown 
into commotion by a fit of this disease, to be 
again renewed as soon as the tender interest 
which it excites has died away. If it were a 
cold that excited some concern and led to medi- 
cation and cosseting, then forthwith the house 
resounds with a cough which continues proof 
against the whole armory of domestic appli- 



MENTAL CONDITIONS AND INFLUENCES. 177 

ances. No disorder, in fact, is beyond the reach 
of this morbid propensity, and to such a degree 
does it sometimes govern the patient, that se- 
rious injuries are self-inflicted for the purpose of 
obtaining a more perfect simulation, and making 
a stronger impression on the observer. Even 
the power of dislocating bones at pleasure, and 
of producing muscular contortions that no prac- 
ticable array of force can restrain, is sometimes 
exhibited in these cases. The morbid feeling at 
the bottom of this affection, once fairly estab- 
lished, goes on gaining strength with every 
day's indulgence. Suffering, at first simulated 
or imagined, becomes real at last ; ailments, in- 
considerable in the beginning, are fostered into 
strength and activity ; an irritable condition of 
the whole nervous system, arising, in a great de- 
gree, from the forced privations and inflictions, 
becomes the source of perpetual pain or dis- 
comfort; and thus, for months, if not years, 
the wretched victim of this mental perversity 
remains a torment to herself and everybody 
around her. Now, this ought not to be. There 
is nothing mysterious in the nature of these 
cases. They are well understood by those who 
are conversant with mental affections, and 
timely, judicious interference would always pre- 
vent their full development. Parents should 
understand them, too, and be on their guard 
12 



178 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

against the first manifestations of the affection, 
in the assurance that a little wholesome dis- 
cipline, with a few hints from their family phy- 
sician, will be all that is necessary for their 
purpose. 

Again, persons of striking mental peculiarities 
are dangerous associates to those whose minds 
are not happily balanced, and they are not en- 
tirely harmless to any. Their peculiarities are 
copied unwittingly, their ultraisms come to be 
regarded as not so very unreasonable, and their 
ridiculous fancies, and perhaps their moral short- 
comings, are viewed with indulgence, if not 
positive favor. If blessed with large intellectual 
endowments, and, especially, if possessed with 
exaggerated ideas of their mission in life, they 
are apt to obtain an ascendency over others not 
strongly fortified by worldly experience, or a 
naturally healthy and symmetrical cast of mind. 
Their singularities of behavior are attributed by 
such associates to a sturdy independence of the 
world's opinion, and their contempt for the 
social institutions around them, to superior dis- 
cernment and loftier aims. In spite of the re- 
pulsiveness ordinarily presented by such charac- 
ters, their peculiarities strike the fancy of some 
who, at last, admire and imitate what, at first, 
was disagreeable, if not revolting. Thus, the 
process of assimilation goes on, step by step, 



MENTAL CONDITIONS AND INFLUENCES. 179 

until the work is entirely accomplished. On 
this subject Nothing can be better settled than 
the principle, that ill-balanced minds are made 
still more irregular by intimate association with 
one another, as well as the converse principle,! 
that nothing contributes more to keep them 
from farther irregularity, than the restraining in- 
fluences^ minds better constituted than their 
own. \Were the importance of these views 
properly estimated, parents and guardians 
would be cautious how they selected compan- 
ions and teachersj whose mental qualities, 
though associated with good habits and prin- 
ciples, could not be profitably imitated by their 
pupils. 

\People of keen sensibilities and vivid concep- 
tions cannot too carefully avoid participating in 
those great social movements, whether moral, 
political, or religious, which frequently agitate 
modern communities^ The caution is applica- 
ble to all that class or persons whose senses are 
readily overpowered by the apparent magnitude 
of the cause which enlists their feelings, so that 
all others dwindle into insignificance by the side 
of it; whose judgment yields itself a willing 
captive to convictions that spring from an ex- 
cited fancy, and whose emotions become so 
strong as to take complete possession of the man. 
Even they who know their danger, and deter- 



180 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

mine beforehand to be moderate and prudent, 
are powerless before the irresistible influence 
which, by means of this great law of sympathy, 
is exerted upon them. Their prudence will 
avail them here as little as it would in avoiding 
a contagious disease to which they had need- 
lessly exposed themselves. Most people, how- 
ever, are unaware of their danger, and while 
they suppose themselves — quite correctly, per- 
haps — to be serving in a good cause, or 
indulging a very commendable class of feel- 
ings, they are urging every morbid tendency to 
the extreme limit of safety. 

The law of sympathy is not controlled in its 
operation by the moral complexion of the 
thoughts and emotions which are chiefly in- 
volved. People are reluctant to believe that 
any subject of a commendable character, espe- 
cially such as concern the highest welfare of the 
individual, can, even indirectly, affect the men- 
tal health. They regard it as a reflection upon 
Providence to suppose that what was designed 
to be most cheering and conservative to the 
soul of man, can, by any possibility, become an 
occasion of sorrow and disease. But the law in 
question conflicts with none of the analogies of 
nature. It is the strength and intensity of the 
thought or emotion, occupying the mind to the 
exclusion of all other thoughts and emotions, 



MENTAL CONDITIONS AND INFLUENCES. 181 

and predominating over all other interests, that 
produce the evil. This alone is the essential 
condition. It matters not whether the move- 
ment that arrests the attention is moral, political, 
or religious ; whether it be to strike a blow for 
freedom or slavery ; to promote the triumph of 
virtue or of vice ; to produce contrition for sin or 
brazen persistence in wrong ; to strengthen the 
arm of the law, or help the spirit of misrule ; the 
healthy balance of the faculties is equally liable 
to be disturbed. Indeed, the more worthy the 
subject may be to excite the interest of a 
rational creature, and secure his most serious 
consideration, so much the more liable are per- 
sons of a susceptible temperament to be moved 
beyond the measure of a healthy excitement, j^ 
The course of our remarks leads us to con- 
sider another mental condition very intimately 
connected with the health of the mind. When 
the thoughts and emotions are deeply engrossed 
with a particular subject, their ordinary current 
is generally accelerated, and perhaps to a high 
degree of rapidity. To pitch the mental move- 
ments on a scale very different from that on 
which they usually proceed is not a healthy 
operation, however satisfactory or agreeable 
may be its immediate results. Where this often 
happens, the mind is liable to lose at last some 
portion of its native vigor, and become, it may 



182 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

be, a prey to actual disorder. As a people, we 
are remarkably prone to mental excitement. It 
is common in almost everybody's experience, 
and forms the habitual condition of many. It 
would seem as if moderation, quiet, and steady 
application, in the pursuits of life, were entitled 
to little respect, and as if no object calculated to 
awaken much interest could be followed, except 
under the pressure of excitement. Occasions 
are frequently occurring when large bodies of 
men are moved by this spirit, and when even 
the whole surface of society rolls and swells 
under its potent influence. One of these occa- 
sions, for instance, is furnished quadrennially, 
by the Presidential election, which enlists the 
feelings of every man, if not every woman, in 
the land. For days and weeks and months 
together, the predominant sentiment is mani- 
fested, at home and abroad, by day and by 
night, in season and out of season, by the fire- 
side and in the market-place, in private inter- 
views and public gatherings, in mass meetings 
and evening processions, in lectures and ser- 
mons and speeches innumerable, as if the dearest 
interests of the individual depended on the 
result. Another prolific occasion of mental 
excitement is furnished by those religious awak- 
enings which have occurred among us with 
remarkable frequency and spread to a remark- 



MENTAL CONDITIONS AND INFLUENCES. 183 

able extent. The language just used to describe 
political exeitement requires but little modifi- 
cation to be equally applicable to this. The 
hygienic effect upon the mind, in the two cases, 
may be different ; and it is not improbable, that 
if the grounds of this difference were better 
understood, the subject might be freely discussed 
without exciting the alarm of truly religious 
people. 

A little examination will show us that acci- 
dental incidents may greatly modify the result 
— may make all the difference between a form 
of excitement not directly injurious, and one 
which may pass, by easy gradations, into posi- 
tive disease. The latter may be accompanied 
with an utter disregard of the plainest rules for 
the preservation of the bodily health. Food 
may be taken irregularly, and the functions of 
the stomach thus disordered; the body, imper- 
fectly clad, perhaps, may be exposed to atmos- 
pherical changes, and thus the sympathy 
between the skin and the lungs be deranged; 
the hours that should be given to repose may 
be surrendered to the all-absorbing topic, and 
for want of the blessed influences which " tired 
nature's sweet restorer " diffuses over the whole 
system, animal and organic, there may occur a 
morbid irritability that deepens the impression 
made by every adverse incident ; habits of daily 



184 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

exercise and recreation, which have become es- 
sential to the physical welfare, may be entirely 
abandoned, and the brain no longer visited by 
the invigorating influences that radiate from the 
muscular system. Any one of these incidents 
may impart to the mental excitement an un- 
healthy character, and convert it into actual 
disease. 

It must be considered, also, that on these 
occasions of prevalent excitement, those habitual 
exercises of the mind which are promotive of 
peace, cheerfulness, and serenity ; that active 
interest in the welfare of others which with- 
draws one from a too steady devotion to selfish 
objects; and especially those glimpses of a 
higher and brighter sphere above the agitations 
of flesh and sense, — frequent in the experience 
of some, and not entirely withheld from any, — 
all these may be completely absorbed in the 
thought or emotion that holds possession of the 
individual. 

The ultimate effect of mental excitement 
depends very much on its character. If it grat- 
ifies the pleasing emotions ; if it inspires hope 
and joy ; if is attended with hilarity and merri- 
ment ; and, especially, if the objects in view are 
not too closely connected with the immediate 
personal welfare, — then its consequences are 
far less injurious than if the predominant feel- 



MENTAL CONDITIONS AND INFLUENCES. 185 

ings are of a depressing character, such as 
intense apprehensions of coming evil, an over- 
whelming sense of unworthiness and short- 
coming, and a fear of personal danger. Strong 
emotions of any kind, indulged in for a con- 
siderable period, are not conducive to mental 
health, but I believe it is the opinion of those 
most conversant with the subject, that the 
pleasing kind are less liable to this result than 
those of a painful or disagreeable character. 

Other qualities of the emotion besides those 
of pleasure or pain, may determine, in some 
degree, its effect on the mind. Many a person 
who experiences safely the joy arising from the 
sudden acquisition of property or the reunion of 
friends, or even the grief that follows calamity 
or death, would quail before some startling 
incident having in it a tinge of mystery or 
wonder. 

Bearing in mind these facts, we may readily 
see why the mental health sustains so little 
harm, comparatively, from intense political ex- 
citement, even when intensified, as it now is, 
by a struggle for national existence. It seldom 
affects a person's habits of living. He takes his 
meals and exercise as regularly as ever, and with 
as keen a relish ; his sleep is sound and his con- 
science quiet ; his sympathies are not entirely 
silenced ; he acknowledges the claim of his 



186 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

neighbor to a helping hand; and his eye and 
ear are not utterly closed to everything else 
that is passing around him. The danger he 
apprehends, the good he seeks, are somewhat 
remote ; and upon few, comparatively, of those 
who mingle in political strife will the result 
have any immediate personal bearings. Their 
business, their social position, their domestic 
affections, their fortune, all remain the same, 
whether the favorite candidate succeed or fail. 
The emotions which spring from the joy of 
success, or the pain of failure, seldom come 
from the depths of the soul, and cannot with- 
stand the intrusion of other sentiments more 
nearly connected with the ordinary experience. 
I do not mean to convey the impression that, 
in a hygienic point of view, political excitement 
is entirely harmless, directly or indirectly. It is 
one form or phasis of that excessive mental 
activity so characteristic of our times, which 
may be fairly considered as having much to do 
with the present increasing prevalence of mental 
disease. A more particular examination of its 
effects, however, must be reserved for another 
division of this inquiry. 

Religious excitement, it is well known, has 
the credit of producing numerous cases of men- 
tal disorder, much to the embarrassment and 
uneasiness of many worthy people, who cannot 



MENTAL CONDITIONS AND INFLUENCES. 187 

understand how so beneficent an agency as 
religion should ever produce such disastrous 
results. The evil in question must be attrib- 
uted, however, not to religion, but to a certain 
form of excitement by which it is frequently, 
though not necessarily accompanied. The fact 
that insanity is often produced in this way can- 
not fairly be denied ; and it is the part of true 
religion as well as true philosophy, to recognize 
the evil, and provide, if possible, a suitable rem- 
edy. Passionate declamation, and charges of 
infidelity against the conscientious observer, 
convince no one who is anxious to know the 
truth of the matter. They only raise the sus- 
picion that the cause is weak which can show 
no better support than these. 

To explain the extraordinary prevalence and 
intensity of this emotion at certain seasons, — 
its secondary causes, so to speak, to distinguish 
them from the spiritual agency supposed to be 
always present, — we have only to consider the 
impressions and influences to which our peo- 
ple have been generally subjected. In this 
country, no subject, probably, occupies the 
attention of so large a number of persons, with 
so high a degree of interest, as religion, in some 
of its forms and developments. At first sight, 
this may seem incompatible with the existing 
amount of depravity, but it will be obvious, on 



188 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

a little reflection, that both facts may be strictly- 
true. Religious institutions are so widely- 
diffused and respected, that comparatively few 
can pass through their childhood without receiv- 
ing impressions that may never be effaced. 
Doctrines are received, passively, perhaps, but 
with none the less confidence in their truth ; 
while even the knotty points of controversial 
divinity are discussed, not exclusively by schol- 
ars and critics. Even those who forget the 
requirements of religion and are careless of its 
obligations, cherish in their inmost heart a cer- 
tain regard for its sanctions, and pay to it a 
kind of involuntary homage. It is not strange, 
therefore, that, in seasons of unusual interest in 
the subject, the religious sentiment, however 
dormant, should be revived and quickened in 
multitudes, and the most indifferent reminded 
that there are higher objects within our reach 
than this life can furnish. 

These views are strikingly confirmed by the 
character of the delusions that agitate the minds 
of the insane. In the New England hospitals 
— and I particularize them, merely because I 
am better acquainted with them than with any 
others — the delusions of a considerable propor- 
tion of the patients are of a religious complex- 
ion ; and it must be borne in mind, that in this 
description of cases are many never supposed to 



MENTAL CONDITIONS AND INFLUENCES. 189 

have a religious origin. I presume there may- 
be found in those institutions, at any time, those 
who imagine they have sinned away the day 
of grace, or committed the unpardonable sin, 
or are doomed to eternal perdition. They may 
not have been distinguished for remarkable 
deficiency, jor remarkable sensitiveness. They 
may not have been dwelling upon religious sub- 
jects in an unusual manner, just previous to the 
attack. It would seem as if, at the moment the 
mind had lost its power of controlling the 
thoughts, a host of religious impressions, long 
latent, perhaps, but never entirely effaced, were 
suddenly revived with that kind of vividness 
which only disease can impart ; and instead of 
serving merely as serious admonitions to duty, 
they prove a whip of scorpions, lacerating and 
torturing to the utmost limit of endurance. 
Now it must be considered that the delusions 
of the insane do not spring out of the ground, 
but originate, more or less remotely in their own 
mental experience ; and this is the reason why 
the delusions of our patients are so frequently 
of a religious character. 

There is another reason why religious excite- 
ment, beyond all other forms of excitement, 
should derange the healthy balance of the mental 
faculties, and that is the superior magnitude of 
the interests with which it is concerned. They 



190 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

are no holiday matter which one may attend to 
or neglect without materially affecting his im- 
mediate welfare. They involve nothing less 
than his future destiny, and are well calculated, 
if anything is, to produce serious thought, if 
not overwhelming emotion. They also include 
an element of personal danger, sufficient to 
excite apprehensions that seldom accompany 
the gloomiest forebodings of those, for instance, 
who are strongly exercised by political griev- 
ances. A sense of responsibility, quickened 
by the consciousness of past deficiencies and 
neglected opportunities, also helps to sharpen 
sensibilities already alive and glowing with 
excitement. 

If these views are correct, there can be no 
question as to their practical application in the 
conduct and business of men. Although mod- 
eration, equanimity, and prudence are incul- 
cated, in general terms, both by philosophy and 
hygiene, yet the majority of mankind require a 
more stringent rule of action ; and in this case, 
they will find it in the immediate danger that 
accompanies excessive indulgence in many, if 
not all, the forms of mental excitement. Ex- 
cesses of this kind, as well as of many others, 
may be followed, in most cases, by no appre- 
ciable amount of harm ; but it must be recol- 
lected that hygienic rules are made, not so much 



MENTAL CONDITIONS AND INFLUENCES. 191 

for the sound and strong, as for those whose 
stamina are impaired, and who thereby have 
become extremely susceptible to every adverse 
influence around them. In every throng which 
is moved by some popular excitement may be 
found those who have inherited a disposition to 
mental disease, which needs only some occasion 
of this kind to be actually developed ; those 
whose nervous system is so irritable that any 
departure from the ordinary routine of thought 
and emotion produces a degree of agitation ever 
liable to pass beyond the limit of safety ; those 
whose sympathies, uncontrolled by the restraints 
of reason and propriety, are irresistibly impelled 
to imitate every extravagance they witness ; 
those whose perceptions of right and wrong, of 
the true and the false, are always accompanied 
by a feverish glow of emotion, which, instead 
of strengthening and elevating, only frets and 
chafes the spirit. These are the persons who 
cannot engage in scenes of excitement without 
imminent danger of losing the nice adjustment 
of their faculties and becoming the subjects of 
actual disease. I do not suppose that excite- 
ment can be banished from every sphere of 
human activity, or that such a result would be 
desirable, if it could. It has its uses, and within 
certain limits it furnishes indispensable aid in 
realizing the purposes and aspirations of men. 



192 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

But the duty of avoiding it is no less imperative 
on some persons than that of avoiding indiges- 
tible food on the part of the feeble and dyspep- 
tic. To say that all may safely indulge in 
excitement, because it is a natural condition of 
the constitution which God has given us, is no 
better logic than it would be to contend that 
strong food must be salutary under all circum- 
stances, because it is the gift of God. Let those, 
too, whose position enables them to control and 
direct the course of popular excitement, remem- 
ber that they are under a fearful responsibility 
for the manner in which they exert their power. 
Their cause may be good, the object desirable, 
but they are none the less bound to be careful 
how they seek to accomplish it by a system of 
means that may involve the ruin of multitudes. 
The voice of admonition too often falls on 
unwilling ears, for people are slow to believe 
that exercises which are highly meritorious, be- 
cause leading to a good result, and prompted, 
perhaps, by divine influence, can, by any possibil- 
ity, be dangerous to the mental health. Indeed, 
it seems to them little short of impiety to sup- 
pose it. Let them remember that they are yet 
in the flesh ; that no pursuit or exercise, hov/ever 
commendable, can be successfully followed by 
a system of means not in accordance with the 
laws of the animal economy. They may be 



MENTAL CONDITIONS AND INFLUENCES. 193 

sure that these will not be suspended to enable 
them to accomplish a desirable end ; and they 
may be also sure that divine influences are al- 
ways in harmony with those natural laws which 
have proceeded from the same beneficent source. 
Those who are sincerely desirous of guarding 
against the development of morbid tendencies, 
should carefully avoid all scenes of religious 
excitement, and indulge their religious emotions 
in quiet and by ordinary methods^always allow- 
ing other emotions and other duties their right- 
ful share of attention. Regulated in this man- 
ner, the religious sentiment will be to them, not 
only a source of spiritual comfort, but a power 
more efficient, it may be, than any other, for 
maintaining the healthy balance of the facul- 
ties, and keeping in abeyance the hereditary 
proclivities to disease. 

Let me not be misunderstood. God forbid 
that I should wish to undervalue the benefits of 
true religion. Of all the influences exerted 
upon the mind, none are more conservative of 
its health and vigor than that of the great truths 
of Christianity, clearly discerned, and properly 
applied to the life. They, and they alone, some- 
times, are capable of keeping it sure and stead- 
fast under the trials that assail it, exalting and 
strengthening while they preserve. And yet 
among the countless varieties of the mental 
13 



194 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

constitution, it is not strange that some should 
want that elasticity which enables it to resist 
the shock of unusual commotions, as well as 
the power of converting momentous truths into 
materials of enduring life and health. It is idle 
to question so obvious a fact. 

To those who demand particular facts on 
this subject, I would submit the following state- 
ment respecting a class of cases deplorably 
familiar to those who have charge of hospitals 
devoted to the care of the insane. " The num- 
ber of instances in which insanity is stated to 
have originated in religious excitement has been 
very considerable ; but in seven only could I 
satisfy myself after the most careful and candid 
examination, that such was really the case. In 
these, the patients' relatives had no doubt what- 
ever as to the origin of their attack, and each 
of them after recovery — for they all recovered 
— most unhesitatingly corroborated that opin- 
ion. Four of them were persons of strong re- 
ligious convictions before the commencement 
of the Revival Movement ; and I ascertained 
that the other three had led regular and exem- 
plary lives for some years previous to their ill- 
ness. It is a common impression — and, as far 
as my limited experience goes, an erroneous 
one — that, in such cases, the terrors of hell and 
a future judgment held up to the excited im- 



MENTAL CONDITIONS AND INFLUENCES. IS5 

agination act immediately in disturbing the 
mental equilibrium. The individuals alluded to 
above, on the contrary, either had, or believed 
they had, ' found peace ' ; and it was the over- 
whelming excitement and joy attendant on this 
belief that produced insanity. The mind, con- 
stantly occupied with one subject, neglect of 
regular hours, want of sleep, late and early at- 
tendance on prayer-meetings, foolish attempts 
to teach others, (a vocation for which they were 
ill adapted,) — in fact, a direct contravention 
of the laws of mental and physical health, com- 
bined to produce their natural result — mental 
disease. One gentleman succumbed to the 
anxiety and distress occasioned by unsuccessful 
attempts to address an audience. Another was 
so overjoyed by his conversion that he scarcely 
ate or slept for a week; and his joy culminated 
in an attack of most violent mania. A man 
who became affected by powerful emotional 
disturbance was considered by those who had 
seen such cases in Ireland to be a genuine ex- 
ample of l striking down,' and he was treated 
accordingly, until his 'physical manifestations,' 
became of too turbulent a character to be con- 
trolled out of an asylum." * 

In the course of that great awakening which 

* Dk. Howden, in Report of Lunatic Asylum of Montrose, 
Scotland, ior 1860. 



196 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

occurred in this country in 1857 and 1858, the 
following case came under my own observation. 
A worthy couple, in one of our principal cities, 
had pursued the even tenor of their way, until 
they had arrived at the period of middle life. 
They were correct in their life and conversation, 
and their religious observances, like those of 
many others, consisted in going to church on 
Sundays. On this occasion, seeing their friends 
and neighbors frequenting the meetings, they, 
too, solely in the spirit of imitation, concluded 
to go. They immediately became absorbed in 
the subjects presented to their attention, to the 
exclusion of every other consideration. On the 
third or fourth day it was obvious they were 
losing their reason, and within a week from the 
time when they began to attend the meetings, 
they were both raving maniacs, and such they 
died, one, in the course of a few days, the other 
in the fourth week. One of them had inherited 
a predisposition to mental disease, though it 
had never before made its appearance ; but, of 
the other, in this respect, I knew nothing. 

The case-books of every hospital for the in- 
sane abound with cases illustrating the same 
doctrine. And the lesson which such facts 
teach is, not that religious awakenings are un- 
mitigated evils, because there is abundant evi- 
dence to the contrary, but that they should be 



MENTAL CONDITIONS AND INFLUENCES. 197 

carefully shunned by all who have any predis- 
position to mental disease. 

The connection between mind and body is 
regulated by laws that cannot be disregarded 
without risk of serious detriment to both. That 
the bodily organs may be directly affected by 
mental impressions is a matter of daily obser- 
vation, and the medical man who is thoroughly 
acquainted with the resources of his art, will 
resort to them with no less confidence in their 
efficacy, than in that of drugs and plasters. In 
a large proportion of cases, they may be made, 
if dexterously managed, far more conducive to 
the restoration of health, than any amount of 
the latter. In this way, I account for most of 
the salutary effect of journeys and voyages and 
watering-places ; and even famous methods of 
cure are oftener indebted for their success to the 
hopeful state of mind they excite than to any 
direct action upon the suffering organ. In ac- 
cordance with a similar law, the depressing ■ 
passions impair the vital energies and invite the 
approaches of disease. It is an undoubted fact 
that the prevalence of cholera, not to men- 
tion other epidemics, has always been greatly 
promoted by the fear of an attack. Nor can it 
be doubted that sporadic diseases have occa- 
sionally been communicated in the same way. 
In 1824, a man died in Guy's Hospital, London, 



198 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

with all the symptoms of hydrophobia, which 
he began to manifest immediately after reading 
a newspaper account of a case of this disease. 
The hygienic condition of the mind is not less 
influenced by the character of its passions and 
emotions, its habitual . temper and disposition. 
In a man of cheerful spirit and hopeful views 
of life, the mental health is less likely to be im- 
paired, other things being equal, than in one 
who is easily depressed by trial, and fond of 
looking upon the dark side of things. Let this 
frame of mind become firmly established, and 
we shall have taken the first step in the path 
which leads to mental disease ; for many of the 
forms of insanity seem to be but exaggerations 
of moral qualities, which, primarily, were simply 
uncomfortable or disagreeable. A cross and 
fretful temper is also prejudicial to the mental 
health, because it prevents the mind from bear- 
ing up under the trials of life with proper 
serenity, and by long indulgence becomes trans- 
formed, very often, into actual disease. The 
advice of Feuchtersleben is worthy of all accep- 
tation, whether we adopt his theory or not. 
" When a man has had the misfortune to be 
born ill-humored, he should not, as most do, 
deceive himself; he should rather regard him- 
self as laboring under disease, and employ every 
means in his power to get rid of the affliction." 



MENTAL CONDITIONS AND INFLUENCES. 199 

In the education of the young, the discipline of 
the passions is of the highest importance, in a 
hygienic point of view. A child who is habit- 
ually peevish and fretful, who manifests fre- 
quent paroxysms of anger and chafes under the 
lightest restrictions, will require a large endow- 
ment of some restraining grace, to escape the 
formation of mental habits as uncontrollable 
as they are odious. When we consider how 
large a portion of the time children are in the 
care of servants possessing little culture or prin- 
ciple, and who would naturally seek to main- 
tain their control by playing on the feelings of 
their charge, it is not wonderful that insanity 
should be one of those diseases, the increase of 
which seems to be favored by the progress of 
civilization. When a child is frightened to 
death by some raw-head-and-bloody-bones story 
of its nurse, the cause, the effect, the mode of 
operation, are obvious to the dullest observer, 
but when the impression is lighter, though not 
readily erased, and the final result more remote, 
we fail to observe the intermediate steps, and 
attribute to a mysterious dispensation of Provi- 
dence what is chiefly the effect of bad domestic 
training. 

Among the mental exercises and conditions 
under the control of the individual, few, prob- 
ably, have a greater effect on the vigor of the 



200 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

mind than habit. In general terms this is uni- 
versally acknowledged, and the old adage, that 
habit is second nature, equally expresses the 
popular and the philosophical belief. In regard 
to the bodily organs, there has been no hesita- 
tion in recognizing and turning to practical ac- 
count this power of habit. We easily teach 
the muscles to execute with the utmost rapidity 
a complicated series of motions, with the least 
possible exercise of the will. The lungs, the 
stomach, the muscles, we invigorate by appro- 
priate habits, which, however difficult and dis- 
agreeable at first, become at last easy and 
pleasing. The mind is no less under the power 
of habit than the body. Its power of contin- 
uous and vigorous thought, as well as its fond- 
ness for dreams and reveries ; its aspirations for 
the good and the true, and its proclivities for 
the mean and the sordid ; its taste for the grand 
and the beautiful, and its affinities for the low 
and the grovelling, may, each and all, be con- 
firmed and developed by the force of habit. 

By habits of mind I mean such mental exer- 
cises as we are accustomed to perform with some 
degree of regularity, — and, thus defined, I do 
not hesitate to say that they produce the same 
promptitude and facility of execution which 
follow the frequent repetition of bodily move- 
ments. It seems to be a law of our mental 



MENTAL CONDITIONS AND INFLUENCES. 201 

constitution, somewhat analogous to that law 
of periodicity which is observed in the actions 
of the nervous system, that emotions, propen- 
sities, and processes of thought, once distinctly 
manifested, tend to repeat themselves, automat- 
ically, as it were. This law is curiously illus- 
trated in the latter stages of protracted mental 
disease, where all active manifestations of mind 
have long since disappeared. These wrecks of 
humanity, incapable of originating the simplest 
process of thought, may be observed executing 
a complicated piece of music with as much cor- 
rectness as in their best days, or playing at 
checkers or cards with but little diminution of 
their accustomed skill. Their attention needs 
only to be directed to a familiar point, and the 
necessary mental movements succeed one an- 
other by some mysterious process of association. 
The operation of the law is visible, even in those 
exercises which seem to require some effort of 
thought. Sentence will follow after sentence, 
disjointed and incongruous, perhaps, but not 
wanting in a certain semblance of logic, or 
eloquence, or wisdom. 

The working of the mind is governed by the 
same laws in health as in disease, and no one 
much accustomed to observe it in himself or 
others, can have failed to witness the influence j 
of habit even in those exercises which seem' 



202 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

most independent of it. In speaking and writ- 
ing, for instance, the thoughts follow one an- 
other, automatically, in a great degree, without 
any conscious effort of the thinking power. A 
man sits down at his table, with only the most 
imperfect conception of what he shall write, 
but thought after thought leaps forth, clothed in 
appropriate words, and the result is something 
which instructs and delights the world. A pub- 
lic speaker rises in his place, with only some 
general outline of what he intends to say, but 
the tongue is directed by an unceasing force, 
the right thing is said in the right place, and not 
only do arguments and images arise, almost 
unbidden, but while uttering the beginning of a 
sentence, the mind looks forward and conceives 
and arranges the next. Now, without pretend- 
ing to furnish a complete explanation of these 
mental processes, it can hardly be questioned 
that this rapidity of movement is in a great 
degree one of the results of habit. Therefore, 
to derive the utmost amount of benefit from 
this law of our nature, care should be taken 
that our mental habits be rightly ordered. If 
they are regular and systematic, suited to the 
taste and abilities, and characterized by some 
activity and effort, they will impart to the exer- 
cises of the mind that ease and readiness of 
performance in which their efficiency so much 



MENTAL CONDITIONS AND INFLUENCES. 203 

consists. If, on the other hand, they are desul- 
tory and fitful, governed only by whim or ca- 
price, and involving only the lower faculties, 
they make none of those permanent furrows, if 
I may use the figure, which guide and facilitate 
the courses of thought. 

The force of habit is no less powerful in per- 
petuating moral and intellectual peculiarities, 
and the fact should always be borne in mind by 
those who are entrusted with the care of the 
young. Upon them it may depend, whether an 
objectionable trait of character shall be eradi- 
cated by timely attention, or firmly established 
and thus become, at last, a prolific source of 
unhappiness, if not overt disease^ The manner 
in which the latter result is brought about is 
well described in the following paragraph : 
" Some are led to begin this course of error by 
distinct and well-marked tastes for it. In oth- 
ers, a feeling is accidentally excited; it may be 
very slight at first, but by repetition it gains 
strength, and ultimately becomes powerful. 
This is remarkably manifested in the caprices 
and perversities. The mind capriciously deter- 
mines to be pleased with a small point, and 
through this sees all the rest. This preposses- 
sion compels the perceptive faculties to present 
the acceptable trait first to the mind, and put it 
in good humor to see those associated with it, 



204 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

and then it looks upon them, at last, with toler- 
ation. By repetition, the toleration becomes 
satisfaction, and approbation follows after. At 
last, the whole mind is brought under the power 
of the caprice ; then opinions are formed, and a 
course of conduct pursued, from which the rea- 
son at first would have shrunk ; but, being dis- 
armed and made the servant of passion or 
caprice, it goes to strengthen the error and over- 
throw the judgment." * 

Youth, undoubtedly, is the most proper period 
for the formation of good habits of mind, and 
in the education of the young this great end 
should never be overlooked. The ability to do 
a thing does not always insure its performance, 
and unless it can be done without much effort, 
and with a measure of satisfaction, it will 
scarcely be done at all. Nobody supposes that 
a musical performer, however correct his ear, 
would derive any pleasure from the exercise, 
were he always obliged, like a beginner, to 
direct every movement of his fingers by a spe- 
cial, deliberate act of the will. And yet, as edu- 
cation is commonly managed, it seems to be 
supposed that certain attainments in knowledge, 
and the recognition of certain moral distinc- 
tions, comprise all that we need. To make 

* Dr. Edward Jarvis, in Barnard's American Journal of Educa- 
tion, March, 1858, p. 602. 



MENTAL CONDITIONS AND INFLUENCES. 205 

these things a part of ourselves by reducing 
them to practice ; to make them easy and fa- 
miliar by habit, and thus alone to make them 
available for any good purpose, is not generally 
recognized as a legitimate result of education. 
And yet no one doubts that the great results of 
life are determined not so much by what men 
know, as by the facility and discretion with 
which they use that knowledge. The little 
learning of some men proves infinitely more 
serviceable in the business of life, than the 
abundant knowledge of others. Even the plain- 
est lesson of morality and religion may bear no 
fruit unless incorporated into the habits of the 
individual. To say, be upright, be benevolent, 
be self-denying, will be of no more avail in 
forming the moral character, than an attempt 
to relieve the bodily wants by saying, be ye 
clothed, or be ye fed. 

The mental efficiency of most men is more 
or less impaired by improper habits of mental 
occupation. They go through life with a large 
amount of latent power undeveloped, and ut- 
terly unable to concentrate their energies on any 
particular point. To accomplish the most with 
a given amount of original endowment is a 
result that can come only from a course of suit- 
able discipline ; and many a man whose mind 
has grown up at hap-hazard, under the impulses 



206 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

of the moment, without method or management; 
active to-day and idle to-morrow ; at one time, 
exploring a subject with commendable zeal and 
diligence, and at another resigning himself to 
idle reveries or superficial study, fails to make 
good the promise of his early days. In what- 
ever situation a person of any intellectual tastes 
may be placed, the health and vigor of his mind 
may be materially increased by some system in 
its use and exercise. In regard to the special 
pursuits whereby men obtain their living, I need 
not speak in this relation ; but every man has, or 
ought to have, his hours of leisure, and the 
manner in which these are spent will determine, 
in a great degree, his happiness and efficiency. 
From a feeling of weariness, real or imaginary, 
or, it may be, from downright indolence, many 
eschew every description of mental exercise at 
those times, but such as conduce to the entertain- 
ment of the hour. Unquestionably there are con- 
ditions of mind when a novel or a play will fur- 
nish it with more salutary exercise, than studies 
requiring more thought and closer application. 
They serve then the purpose of recreation, and 
the mind is enabled to resume its customary 
work, refreshed and invigorated. Like all in- 
dulgences which are salutary enough when tem- 
perately used, this is liable to become habitual, 
and thus indispose a man to any mental 



MENTAL CONDITIONS AND INFLUENCES. 207 

employments requiring activity and persever- 
ance. 

Persons whose habitual employment requires 
considerable mental activity during several hours 
of the day, will best obtain the recreation they 
need by some kind of mental exercise which, 
without being fatiguing, requires just enough of 
effort to impart a degree of interest and satisfac- 
tion to the result. They need, not so much ab- 
solute quietude, as a change of subject which 
calls into action a different order of faculties 
from those which have already been fatigued. 
A man's special pursuits are generally a matter 
of toil and taskwork, from which he gladly 
turns to something that appeals to his taste or 
fancy rather than to his needs. True, it may 
still be the higher faculties that are thus em- 
ployed, but instead of the same daily routine, 
the employment is constantly suggesting new 
thoughts and new scenes, and being pursued at 
will, without restriction or limitation, the inter- 
est is steadily maintained. It is well to have 
some pet employment for one's leisure hours, 
with sufficient dignity to redeem it from the 
charge of frivolity and add a zest to the gratifi- 
cation it affords. The merchant who retires to 
his farm, and dismisses all thought of traffic 
while pruning his trees or discussing the quali- 
ties of his stock ; the lawyer or doctor who re- 



208 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

lieves his professional toils by investigating 
some favorite subject remote from the ordinary 
sphere of his labors ; the merchant's clerk, who, 
when the work of the day is finished, gladly 
turns to his book of history or biography ; the 
mechanic or farmer who always finds an oppor- 
tunity for learning the events of the time, or 
adding, in some way, to his stock of ideas, ob- 
tain a more durable gratification, and do more 
to repair the wear and tear produced by their 
more arduous occupations, than they would by 
devouring heaps of novels, or resorting to scenes 
of amusement. 

These views cannot be too strongly urged 
upon our countrymen, with whom unceasing 
toil is not so much a matter of necessity as it is 
among less favored nations, and who are much 
inclined to seek for recreation in idleness or 
frivolous amusement. 

In another respect, the mental habits of our 
people are detrimental to the health and vigor 
of the mind. With all our ambition and en- 
ergy, we need, above all things, more steadiness 
in our pursuits, and a more diligent application. 
With a set task before us, on which some 
special object is depending, no people can ac- 
complish more ; but without such an object in 
view, especially without the stimulus of neces- 
sity, no people are more prone to spend their 



MENTAL CONDITIONS AND INFLUENCES. 209 

time in doing nothing, or what amounts to 
scarcely anything. How many start in life un- 
der the impression that the great objects of 
worldly success are to be obtained, not so much 
by patient and persevering industry, as by some 
happy stroke of fortune. The slow rewards of 
diligence and painstaking prudence have no 
charms for men whose eyes are fixed on the 
more rapid and brilliant results of adroit man- 
agement, or bold speculation, or hazardous ad- 
venture. So long as the latter evade our grasp, 
we imagine that we have mistaken our calling, 
that better fortune is in store for us, did we but 
know where to seek it, and forthwith we look 
about for some opportunity to change. Thus we 
become unstable and unsteady in our ways; re- 
peated disappointment and vexation destroy the 
healthy elasticity of the mind, and the idle- 
ness that necessarily follows a frequent change 
of pursuit contributes nothing to its strength. 
The old adage, that the devil is always at the 
elbow of an idle man, is almost literally true in 
this relation. The unoccupied mind is the 
sport of every whim and impulse, driven about 
by vague desires and impracticable schemes, 
and a prey to any morbid emotion or extrava- 
gant idea that in the chapter of accidents may 
turn up. At this point its downward progress 
becomes more rapid, until it ends in hopeless 

14 



210 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

ennui or overt insanity. I have no hesitation, 
therefore, in saying that of all the means for pre- 
serving the health, there is nothing more sure, 
or better suited to a greater variety of persons, 
than habits of regular and systematic mental 
occupation of some dignity and worth. 

In this proposition I would embrace all those 
kinds of employment which pass under the gen- 
eral name of business, and which, little as we 
are sometimes disposed to recognize the fact, 
bears the same relation to the health of the 
mind, that food, exercise, &c, do to the health 
of the body. Work is the condition of our be- 
ing, as active and progressive creatures ; and if 
performed with due regard to the constitution of 
the individual and the nature of the employ- 
ment, it will do more, probably, than any other 
single agency, to maintain the native energies, 
both of body and mind. No advantages of for- 
tune or of station can place us entirely beyond 
its necessity, and no one whose life is spent in a 
round of frivolous pursuits, has a right to reckon 
upon that vigor and elasticity of mind which 
will sustain it under the trials of adversity, or 
the morbid influences that may flow from other 
parts of the system. Few of us, I imagine, are 
fully aware how much we owe on this score, to 
those daily recurring pursuits which fix our 
thoughts and task our energies. The doctor 



MENTAL CONDITIONS AND INFLUENCES. 211 

who begins his tour of duty in the early hours 
of morning, and scarcely ends it with the 
shades of evening ; the lawyer who, day after 
day, renews his conflicts at the bar, or delibera- 
tions in chambers ; the merchant who hurries 
from the breakfast-table to the counting-room, 
to rejoice or to chafe over the account of sales 
and purchases which the morning's mail has laid 
on his desk ; the school-master, the bank-clerk, 
the shopkeeper, and all the host of employes 
who are expected to be at their posts at the 
striking of the clock ; the farmer and the me- 
chanic, whose toil is longer, if not more har- 
assing, — let them all consider that in their 
several allotments of labor are essential con- 
ditions of their health and happiness. Employ- 
ment which is steadily pursued as a part of the 
established routine of life, and felt to be, in 
some degree, a matter of necessity, has an ef- 
fect on the mind far more salutary than that 
which depends on the impulse of the moment, 
and is determined by no sense of necessity nor 
force of habit. There can be no question that 
the very regularity with which the stated task 
returns is congenial to the mental constitution, 
answering, perhaps, to that law of periodicity by 
which the actions of the nervous system are 
greatly controlled. The long-settled habit of 
pursuing some specific employment cannot be 



212 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AEEECTED BY 

discontinued without serious danger to the 
mind, which, deprived of the customary object 
of its thoughts and cares, becomes a prey to 
ennui, if nothing worse. The story of the tal- 
low-chandler, who, on retiring from business, 
retained the privilege of being present on dip- 
ping days, may raise a smile, but it illustrates 
an important truth. In England, where habits 
are more firmly fixed than with us, the liability 
of old persons to become insane after withdraw- 
ing from their customary pursuits, is distinctly 
noticed by some of her best writers on the dis- 
ease. The remarks on this point of an English 
writer who, with remarkable skill, has treated of 
those mental peculiarities which are compat- 
ible with unquestionable sanity, though indica- 
tive, certainly, of abnormal mental action, de- 
serve to be pondered well by all to whom they 
can possibly be applied : " A man accustomed 
to business, and possessed of an active mind, 
and who has lived amid the excitements of a 
large city and a numerous acquaintance, if sud- 
denly removed from such a kind of life to a 
country house, or to a country town, finds that 
by far the worst part of the change consists in 
the removal of an excitement, the effects of 
which were not fully known to him before. 
Withdrawn in a great degree from external ob- 
jects, the attention becomes strongly and almost 



MENTAL CONDITIONS AND INFLUENCES. 213 

continually directed inwards ; a state which has 
sometimes been considered as affording oppor- 
tunity for a review of past conduct, and the for- 
mation of good resolutions, but in which, in re- 
ality, the mind, if not wholly occupied about the 
faults of others, generally dwells on its own 
movements and its own feelings, until the im- 
portance of both becomes exceedingly exagger- 
ated. This state proves to many quite unfa- 
vorable to the quiet pursuit of science or litera- 
ture; the imagination has an irregular exercise; 
and indolence produces self-reproach and de- 
spondency. A suspicion begins to be felt that 
the mind has not only lost its habits of activity, 
but also its power to undertake any employ- 
ment demanding perseverance. The want of 
external excitement comes at last to be made 
up for by various sources of mental agitation, 
which are only rendered important by continu- 
ance or frequent succession ; and it is found 
with surprise, that the facility once possessed of 
profiting by short intervals of leisure is sup- 
planted by an inability to do anything well 
when there is nothing to be done. In such a 
situation, the declension of the mind may be 
observed, from activity to indolence, and from 
indolence to that state of apathy which is very 
little removed from a state of sleep. Even a 
devotion to the common pleasures of sense is 



214 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

better than such a state of absolute indifference ; 
for if even these give no kind of pleasure, whilst 
all higher pursuits are neglected, there is danger 
lest a man become of the same opinion as Dr. 
Darwin's patient, 4 that all which life affords is a 
ride out in the morning, and a warm parlor and 
a pack of cards in the afternoon ' ; and like him, 
finding these pleasures not inexhaustible, should 
shoot himself because he has nothing better to 
do." 

" Even amidst the excitement of the capital, 
the want of those continual motives to industry 
which arise from a profession, or from some reg- 
ular pursuit in life, or from the necessity of 
making some provision for others, or from any 
of those privations and difficulties of which the 
operation is always beneficial, though seldom 
duly appreciated, is most fatal to mental ease. 
A condition which most men would choose, be- 
cause apparently including every blessing of na- 
ture and fortune, has been known to become 
tormenting and intolerable. The possession of 
wealth and rank, a liberal education, great liter- 
ary acquirements, many accomplishments, cor- 
rectness of life, elegance of manners, and ex- 
traordinary powers of conversation, together 
with the frequent enjoyment of a society in 
which all these particulars are fully estimated, 
present a combination of advantages which 



MENTAL CONDITIONS AND INFLUENCES. 215 

very few possess, and to which none can be in- 
different : if anything could promise worldly 
happiness, such a combination of natural and 
acquired endowments would seem to do so. 
They were never, perhaps, more happily united 
than in the instance of Mr. Topham Beauclerk, 
the friend and frequent companion of Johnson, 
by whom, as indeed by all the great men of a 
time in which great men abounded, he was not 
only admired but beloved. Yet we are told 
that the activity or the restlessness of his mind 
required something more ; and that, sometimes 
unsatisfactorily engaged in desultory studies, 
and sometimes in dissipation, and sometimes in 
play, he was too often a martyr to misanthropy, 
and querulousness, and ennui. At such times, 
it cannot be doubted that there was an ap- 
proach to disease of mind." * 

In this connection it is proper to refer to a 
feature of this our modern life, evincing a de- 
plorable disregard of this law of our mental 
constitution. I mean the absence of stated, 
useful employment on the part of the female 
members of families in easy circumstances. 
The little accomplishments of needle-work, so 
generally diffused, can hardly be dignified with 
the name of work, for though they give the ap- 
pearance of occupation, they furnish no exercise 

# Conoll}', J. Indications of Insanity, p. 182. 



216 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

to body or mind, and might be entirely dispensed 
with without detriment to anybody. I would 
not censure any for abstaining from employ- 
ments better left to those who need the com- 
pensation they afford. But it is a poor view of 
woman's duties and capacities, that confines 
her to a little busy idleness, because the chances 
of fortune have placed her beyond the necessity 
of earning her living ; and they must have but 
a narrow view of the exigencies of social life 
who believe that any woman of tolerable health 
and strength may not find abundant oppor- 
tunities of that kind of work which affords no 
other recompense than the consciousness of 
doing good, and therefore to be done, if done at 
all, by those who can dispense with every other 
compensation. A life of idleness and luxurious 
ease can be no more honorable to one sex than to 
the other, and we know very well, that in a man, 
it creates no claims upon the respect and confi- 
dence of the community. The time is coming, 
it is to be hoped, when every right-minded, true- 
hearted woman will feel that she is designed 
for something better than a mere butterfly exist- 
ence consisting chiefly of dress, crochet, novels, 
and parties, and determine to devote that leisure 
which she owes to the allotments of a kind 
Providence, to those benevolent ministrations 
which her nature renders her so well-fitted to 



MENTAL CONDITIONS AND INFLUENCES. 217 

perform. That the work in question has been 
actually begun, that many a benevolent enter- 
prise has been conceived and carried forward 
by this class of persons, is confirmatory evidence 
that the views here advanced are sound, prac- 
ticable, and adapted to the wants of the time. 
But this kind of work is never finished, and the 
utmost possible influx of laborers would be 
scarcely sufficient for the harvest. Nothing but 
the practical application of these remarks can 
save many a mind, liberally and beautifully en- 
dowed, from that series of mental ills which 
begins with habitual vacuity and ends with ac- 
tual insanity. True, this is not the invariable 
result, thanks to a good constitution and the 
benevolent appliances of nature ; but let a little 
ill-health, or an hereditary taint, or a great afflic- 
tion, throw its weight into the scale, and then 
it may be reasonably expected. 

Important as stated employment unquestion- 
ably is, to the mental health, amusement or re- 
creation is scarcely less so. Few persons, what- 
ever their mental character or temperament, can 
safely dispense with them altogether. At some 
time or other, in some shape or other, they 
would exert a salutary influence upon all who 
suffer the wear and tear of labor whether of 
body or mind. Even the most commanding in- 
tellects sometimes seek the recreation which 






218 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

their exhausting labors make necessary, in forms 
of amusement which, to those who feel the 
necessity less, seem to be frivolous and puerile. 
For this purpose, Bayle was not ashamed of 
witnessing the performances of Punch and Judy. 
William Pinkney was accustomed to unbend 
over the flimsiest productions of the Minerva 
Press, and Daniel Webster was in the habit of 
repairing to the sea-shore, to recruit his ex- 
hausted energies by fishing from his boat. True, 
most persons of this class find sufficient recrea- 
tion in some form of mental activity, less than 
is required by their stated employments, and 
many others of somewhat smaller intellect and 
humbler calling might profitably do the same 
in some degree. But it can hardly be doubted 
that, to all classes whose habitual pursuits re- 
quire more head than hand, a judicious resort 
to amusements would be attended with the hap- 
piest effects. Endowed, as we are, with the 
faculty of being amused, — of deriving gratifica- 
tion from things that only excite our mirth, — it 
seems to be a reflection on the Author of our 
being, to regard amusements as something to 
be carefully shunned, rather than sought and 
enjoyed. Their legitimate effect, when properly 
managed, is yet to be experienced among us, 
because they have hitherto been too much de- 
based by associations that do not rightfully 



MENTAL CONDITIONS AND INFLUENCES. 219 

belong to them. In order that they may in- 
vigorate rather than enervate the mind, they 
should be used with due moderation, and never 
as a means of fostering merely nervous excite- 
ment ; they should appeal to none of the lower 
sentiments or propensities ; they should stimu- 
late no passion, nor contribute, in any way, to 
disturb the bodily health. 

To that larger class in every community, 
whose life is one of severe toil and harassing 
cares, amusements constitute almost the only 
practicable means for repairing the constant 
waste of the nervous energy. If, in this coun- 
try, it is more disposed to mental disease than 
the corresponding classes of the Old World, it 
may be accounted for, in some degree, by the 
fact that the latter devote a much larger portion 
of their leisure to social intercourse and festive 
enjoyments. Among the most imperative of 
our social wants is a better supply of cheap and 
innocent amusements adapted to the national 
tastes and customs. Especially is this want 
felt by the female sex, in the humbler walks of 
life, whose daily round of care and toil not only 
draws more largely than that of the stronger 
sex on the physical and mental energies, but is 
lightened by none of that relief which is afforded 
by a greater variety of duties and more frequent 
periods of rest. 



220 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

How the want of suitable amusements can be 
best supplied ; how their prevalent tendency to 
run into dissipation can be counteracted, are 
questions not within my province to discuss, 
but which are worthy of most serious considera- 
tion. Whoever will do ever so little towards 
furnishing a satisfactory answer, will perform 
an acceptable service to his race. 

Another source of mental inefficiency, if not 
actual derangement, not very uncommon among 
us, is a want of due relation between our abili- 
ties and our aspirations, — between the objects 
we seek and our means of obtaining them- 
Some fail of accomplishing their mission by 
aiming too low, and always gazing on a cheer- 
less, hopeless future. With powers adequate to 
almost anything, they go through life distrustful 
of their strength, and recoiling from any de- 
termined effort, because, to their feeble faith, it 
promises no result but discomfiture and dis- 
grace. With every successive year their cour- 
age and self-confidence diminish, and with them 
their disposition to engage in the conflict of life, 
until finally they abandon the attempt, and pas- 
sively yield to their fate. 

Others, on the contrary, fail by aiming too 
high. They measure their abilities, less by act- 
ual experience of what they can do, than by 
the allurements that gild their vision of the fu- 



MENTAL CONDITIONS AND INFLUENCES. 221 

ture. Fitted by nature for the humbler walks 
of life, they aim for the higher, and the calling 
wherein they might have done some service to 
their kind is spurned for one that fills a larger 
place in the estimation of the world, and re- 
quires a larger comprehension than they possess. 
If by dint of good fortune they succeed in reach- 
ing the coveted position, it is only to find them- 
selves beyond their depth, and to prepare for the 
countless mortifications and disappointments 
that crown the efforts of aspiring mediocrity. 
The effect of such mistaken estimates is preju- 
dicial to the health of the mind, sometimes in 
one way, sometimes in another. In some, es- 
pecially those who are constitutionally suscepti- 
ble, the repeated failure of their plans produces 
a morbid irritability, that, sooner or later, termi- 
nates in disease. In others, the mental powers 
become paralyzed, as it were, and they slide 
through life, in pitiable feebleness and ob- 
scurity.* 

Another prolific source of mental impairment 
among us is our ardent and impulsive temper- 
ament. I know not if the fact is to be attrib- 
uted to atmospherical conditions, to nervous id- 
iosyncrasies, or to national manners ; but the 

* This particular source of mental inefficiency has been admira- 
bly described and illustrated by Dr. Edward Jarvis, in American 
Journal of Education, March, 1858. 



222 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

fact itself is unquestionable, that, from the 
cradle to the grave, we are ever in haste. 
Whatever we do must be done in a hurry. 
"Whether we eat or sleep, work or play, talk, 
write, or think, it must be accomplished under a 
pressure of excitement. Nothing in the whole 
range of our concerns seems to exhibit any ex- 
ception to this principle. Whether it be a fu- 
neral or a wedding, a religious or political enter- 
prise, in every form of business or pleasure, in 
every manifestation of joy or sorrow, in every 
plan for accomplishing good to ourselves or our 
race, the constant thought is how to obtain the 
maximum result in the shortest possible time. 
A few months or years seem to be sufficient for 
any conceivable purpose, and we regard with 
wonder, if not contempt, the steady perseverance 
that devotes a lifetime to any object whatever. 
Of all the qualities which a person or thing can 
possess, the highest in our estimation is speed. 
Not how well, but how quick, is our test of 
merit and measure of regard. The old-fash- 
ioned virtues, strength, stability, firmness, are 
rather respected than admired. The popular 
plaudits are bestowed upon whatever implies 
rapidity of conception or of performance ; and 
the national reputation is supposed to be in- 
volved, not more in the punctuality with which 
we meet our pecuniary obligations, or our 



MENTAL CONDITIONS AND INFLUENCES. 223 

fidelity in executing the terms of a treaty, than 
in the feats of our fast horses, fast ships, and 
fast men. Unquestionably, this trait in our na- 
tional character tends to precipitate the vital 
movements of the brain, and consequently to 
consume its energies faster than they can be 
supplied. Difficulties and disappointments 
which are especially incident to hasty and 
impetuous enterprise, frequently occurring, pre- 
maturely rob the mind of its elasticity, and pre- 
pare it for early decay. To suppose that the 
highest possible degree of nervous tension can 
be maintained for many years without impair- 
ing the efficiency of the brain, is simply to ig- 
n ore the established principles of physiology. 
(What the American brain wants, above all 
things else, is, as they say of machinery, a 
steadier movement.'- The quality of character 
in which we are peculiarly deficient is that 
moderation which springs, not from indolence 
or apathy, but from well-grounded self-confi- 
dence and unwavering self-possession!^ 



224 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 



CHAPTER IV. 

MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY THE PRACTICES 
OF THE TIMES. 

Having disposed of the particular incidents 
and events which impair the health of the mind, 
I now come to those traits peculiar to the in- 
tellectual, moral, political, and social condition 
of our times, w r hich produce a similar effect. 
Without taking them into the account, it would 
be impossible to furnish a satisfactory answer to 
some of the questions which the subject presents. 

The present is an age of great mental ac- 
tivity. The amount of it now required for 
maintaining the ordinary routine of the world 
would have passed all conception a century 
ago. Especially is it obvious in that constantly 
progressive enlargement of the field of industry, 
whereby the energies of the race have been di- 
rected to an increasing variety of pursuits. 
The kind and degree of mental activity pro- 
duced in this way, though scarcely perceptible 
in its minutely divided state, swells at last into 
an enormous aggregate. When we consider 
the amount of thought that has been concerned 



THE PRACTICES OF THE TIMES. 225 

in bringing the manufacture of a pin or a screw- 
to its present state of perfection, we may have 
a remote conception of the amount of that 
kind of mental exercise which is required in 
creating and conducting the countless processes 
of human industry. Here is no stand-still. 
Every process intended to subserve the wants or 
pleasures of man is susceptible of improvement ; 
improvement implies mental effort; and this ef- 
fort is actually made by a large proportion of 
those who are engaged in mechanical employ- 
ments. The class of persons who follow any 
pursuit with more intelligence than a machine 
is rapidly increasing, and to this fact we are 
more deeply indebted for our progress, than to 
those achievements of master-minds, which, 
however prolific in results, must be compara- 
tively rare. In those primitive times when suc- 
cessful employment only required a certain 
acuteness of the senses and faculties common 
to man and the brutes, disease was not often 
induced in the brain by an undue exercise of 
its powers. Neither was mental disease com- 
mon among those celebrated nations whose lit- 
erature and art are still synonymous with learn- 
ing and taste. The throngs that listened with 
eager ears to the prince of orators, and gazed 
on the noblest productions of the chisel, felt 
some stir of emotion, and treasured up for the 
15 



226 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

hours of quiet meditation many an image of 
beauty and heroic virtue. Peradventure, they 
may have been led, by the thoughts that 
breathed and words that burned around them, 
to some manly resolve or noble endeavor. But 
they knew little of the mental toil and conflict, 
the special effort and the steady endurance, 
which characterize the daily experience of the 
corresponding classes in our own time, who flock 
to a political gathering or a popular lecture, 
with what benefit they may, and gratify their 
sense of the beautiful in staring at the wax- 
figures of the museum or menagerie. During 
the feudal ages, also, the masses had but little 
occasion to think ; it was enough for them to 
obey. Their intellectual exercise was chiefly 
confined to the services of religion, and even 
here they were required to be the passive recip- 
ients of the ideas and emotions of others. 
/These views lead us to the question, whether 
or not mental diseases are increasing, and it is 
one of the deepest interest to all who are dis- 
posed to believe in the indefinite progress of the 
race. If, year after year, the amount of human 
happiness and the capacity of improvement 
have been seriously diminished by this steadily 
increasing evil, it is the part of wisdom to learn 
the fact and provide the remedy. On the ques- 
tion itself, touching the increase of insanity, 



THE PRACTICES OF THE TIMES. 227 

opinions have been much divided. Nothing 
would seem to be easier than to settle it, by 
comparing the number of the insane with that 
of the whole population, at periods somewhat 
remote from each other^j But this supposes a 
fact that does not as yet exist. In no part of 
the world has a census of the insane been taken, 
at two different periods, with any reliable de- 
gree of accuracy. Indeed, the attempt has sel- 
dom been made at all. Estimates founded on 
partial returns, embracing a single district or de- 
nomination of people, have been occasionally 
made ; but, being vitiated by that uncertainty 
which must always exist, where inferences take 
the place, in some degree, of actual facts, they 
can be of little worth in determining any prac- 
tical question. It deserves notice, however, that 
every successive estimate of this kind has 
showed a larger proportion of insane than any 
previous one. [ Thus, it has risen, in Great 
Britain, from 1 in 7000 to 1 in 300 ; in France, 
from 1 in 1750 to 1 in 1000 ; in the Rhenish 
Provinces of Prussia, from 1 in 1000 to 1 in 
600. In the United States, the proportion ap- 
pears to have risen, during the period between 
1840 and 1850, from 1 in 978 to 1 in 738. In 
Massachusetts, where the attempt has, several 
times, been made with unusual care, to ascer- 
tain the number of the insane, the same result 






228 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

has been observed. In 1847, it was reported to 
be 1 in 606, and in 1854, 1 in 300. In Rhode 
Island, the census of 1850 showed the propor- 
tion of 1 in 633 ; while, in the same year, pri- 
vate inquiries found it to be, at the very least, 1 
in 351. 

These results may only indicate the greater 
accuracy which repeated investigations gen- 
erally produce ; but if they do not show an ap- 
palling increase of the disease, they do show an 
amount of it, which, a few years since, before 
its dimensions were so carefully measured, 
would have been regarded as almost incredible. 
When we consider, in this connection, the well- 
authenticated fact, that [the prevalence of insan- 
ity is proportioned somewhat to the degree of 
cultivatioip and refinement which the people 
have reached, the conclusion seems to be inevi- 
tableJthat much of it originates in the incidents 
and conditions peculiar to the civilized state. 
IFhe laws of physiology might have led us to 
expect this result. The judicious use of an or- 
gan, we know very well, increases its power and 
confirms its health ; but excessive exercise} — 
that whiehjrequires an undue share of the vital 
energies — Ueads to an unhealthy condition. 
Every advance in civilization implies additional 
cerebral effort. \ The proportion of those who use 
their brains for anything beyond the ordinary 



THE PRACTICES OF THE TIMES. 229 

functions of life, is increased by it ; and with this 
fact is necessarily found another, viz : that the 
proportion of those who, in one way or another, 
use their brains immoderately or injudiciously, is 
also increased. It would hardly seem to require 
an elaborate investigation to prove that, other 
things being equal, the mind which only directs 
the hand in the coarser operations necessary to 
the mere support of life, will be less liable to 
disorder than one which feels the spur of higher 
motives and provides for a higher circle of 
wants. The brain of the savage partakes of the 
common exemption from disease shared by his 
stomach, heart and lungs. It knows little of 
that severe tension which the civilized man's 
endures, and which tends to create a morbid ir- 
ritability easily converted into disease. 

We are not to forget, also, that, under the ap- 
pliances of civilization, the normal hardihood 
and elasticity of the brain are rather diminished 
than increased, so that it often fails, less in con- 
sequence of the magnitude of its efforts, than of 
its feeble power of endurance. This kind of 
enfeeblement it shares in common with the other 
organs, and it would be as idle to deny the 
fact, as it would to deny that gout, consump- 
tion, and enlargement of the heart, are indicative 
of that vital deterioration produced by the luxu- 
ries and trials of civilized life. It certainly will 



230 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

not be denied that the standard of health has 
been somewhat lowered among us, during the 
last fifty years ; and such being the case, we 
have no reason to suppose, other things being 
equal, that the brain alone has escaped the gen- 
eral fate. But other things are not equal. In 
addition to the deteriorating influences which 
affect all the organs alike, the brain, as we have 
already remarked, is subjected to a strain which 
has been steadily increasing with the increasing 
wants and excitements of life. And here we 
must bear in mind, what is sometimes practi- 
cally forgotten in discussions of this subject, 
that the brain is the material instrument, not 
only of reason, but of the emotions, sentiments, 
and propensities. Through it come joy and 
sorrow, the triumph of success, the pang of dis- 
appointment, the spur of ambition, the storm of 
passion, the love of the good and the beautiful, 
and the peace and trust of religion. Were man 
merely a reasoning animal, the amount of in- 
sanity that might be produced by hard thinking 
would be comparatively small. And even were 
we to embrace in this immoderate exercise of 
his great prerogative, the close and protracted 
attention often required in his various pursuits, 
there would still be a large remainder of mental 
disorder to be traced to some other exercise of 
mind. 



THE PRACTICES OF THE TIMES. 231 

Strangely enough, in the face of this distinc- 
tion, some persons can see, in the influences of 
civilization only the stimulus it affords to the 
thinking faculties, and find, as they imagine, 
that communities abounding in minds thus ex- 
ercised will favorably compare, in point of men- 
tal health and vigor, with others comparatively 
exempt from the labor of thinking. It appears, 
for instance, from recent statistics, that the ru- 
ral districts of England furnish a larger propor- 
tion of insane than the manufacturing, and on 
the strength of this fact is put forth the doc- 
trine, not altogether new, however, that the in- 
creased mental activity which accompanies 
every advance in civilization is really favorable 
to mental health. " The Hodges of England," 
it is said, " who know nothing of the march of 
intellect, who are entirely guiltless of specu- 
lations of any kind, contribute far more inmates 
to the lunatic asylums than the toil-worn arti- 
sans of Manchester and Liverpool, who live in 
the great eye of the world, and keep step with 
the march of civilization, if they do but bring 
up its rear." * This explanation is not quite 
satisfactory, because the statement on which it 
rests is rather a matter of rhetoric than of act- 
ual fact. The toil-worn artisans of Manchester 
and Liverpool are, probably, as guiltless of spec- 

* London Quarterly Review, April, 1857. 



232 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

ulation as the Hodges of the rural districts. 
There is nothing in the occupation of making 
the head of a pin, or driving a steam-engine, 
more conducive to mental activity than shearing 
sheep or holding a plough. The extreme divis- 
ion of labor now introduced into most manufac- 
turing processes, and the narrow range of atten- 
tion consequently allowed to the operative, most 
effectually preclude any exercise of thought; 
but the labors of agriculture, with all their sup- 
posed monotony, are still not without variety, 
and, every hour, require the exercise of judg- 
ment and discretion. The fact in question has 
been observed in this country. We have al- 
ready referred to the fact that in Massachusetts, 
the rural counties of Berkshire, Hampshire, and 
Franklin, have a much larger proportion of in- 
sane than the manufacturing and maritime 
counties of Suffolk, Essex, and Plymouth. No- 
body here, certainly, would think of explaining 
this difference by supposing that the mass of the 
population in the former districts have less 
intellectual activity than that of the latter. 
Hodges, no doubt there are, who become in- 
sane from mere mental torpidity, but they are 
not confined to the rural districts. Unquestion- 
ably, the number of those who think closely and 
continuously, seeking to elaborate some new 
idea, is greater in the commercial and manufac- 



THE PRACTICES OF THE TIMES. 233 

turing districts ; and this might explain their 
comparative exemption from mental disease, 
were it the only point of difference between 
them. We have only to consider, with some 
degree of particularity, the peculiar agencies of 
a highly civilized condition, to be quite satisfied 
that their tendency is to make large drafts on 
the mental energies, and thereby facilitate the 
action of more immediate causes of disease. 

[No single incident of civilization has con- 
tributed so much to maintain the mental ac- 
tivity of modern times as the art of printing; 
and at no period since its invention have its 
benefits and its evils been more widely diffused/^ 
A multitude of mechanical improvements have 
so reduced the expense of the process that its 
productions are brought within the reach of 
every reader in the land, while the proportion of 
those who actually read is twentyfold greater, 
no doubt, than in any previous generation. 
How long is it since, in the interior of the coun- 
try, a new book was seldom seen among the 
smoke-dried volumes that composed the domes- 
tic library, and a newspaper was a luxury not to 
be rashly indulged in ? People might be stirred 
by the prospects of the crops, by an approach- 
ing election, or by the appeals of a fiery 
preacher, but they scarcely felt the power of a 
literature that, in its infinite diffusion, leaves its 



234 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

mark on every opinion, sentiment, and emotion. 
The works of standard English writers, which, a 
few years ago, were confined to the libraries of 
the few educated men, are now to be found on 
the shelves of every country shop. Hardly have 
the products of the British press been laid on 
the tables of the club-rooms in Pall Mall, when 
they are on their way to the remotest recesses 
of the country. Sixty years ago, a pamphlet 
by Burke on the French Revolution, closely as 
that great event was connected with our na- 
tional welfare, found but a handful of readers 
on this side the Atlantic ; while, in our times, 
on a theme of no immediate interest, a volume 
of Macaulay, in every shape that the printer's 
art can devise, is scattered broadcast through 
the whole length and breadth of the land. 

LThe multiplicity of books and of readers, not 
only evinces a degree of mental activity which, 
a century ago, would have been regarded as 
scarcely within the bounds of possibility, but 
much of the literature of the day is of a kind 
not calculated to promote the mental heaKRl 
It is more or less directly addressed to the lo\^er 
sentiments of our nature, thereby impairing that 
supremacy of the higher which is indispensable 
in a healthy, well-ordered mind. *Many people 
read only to be amused or excited, not to gain 
useful information! nor to better understand the 



THE PRACTICES OF THE TIMES. 235 

great lessons of life. The man whose habitual 
reading has strengthened and enlarged his judg- 
ment, elevated his aims, enlightened his percep- 
tions of right and duty, and rendered the life to 
come a quickening element in his moral expe- 
rience, is most likely, so far as intellectual cul- 
ture is concerned, to preserve the normal vigor 
of his mind. U3ut he, on the other hand^jvhose 
reading is calculated only to inflame the imag- 
ination \with pictures of unhallowed enjoyment, 
to banish every manly thought and pure emo- 
tion, to extend the empire of passion, and in- 
duce him to fill his measure of happiness with 
things that perish in the using,Us weakening all 
the conservative principles of his mind, and fa- 
cilitating the approach of disease^ How much 
of the popular literature of the day is designed 
to foster a coarse sensuality, comparatively few, 
I apprehend, have any conception. Here it is 
enough to say that it is accessible to every 
reader in the land, and that a large portion of 
those whom it attracts will be found among the 
young. 

A still greater contrast, if possible, is pre- 
sented by the newspaper press, which, in the 
amount of mental activity of one kind or an- 
other that it generates, is unsurpassed by all 
other literary agencies put together. There is 
not a single phasis of human passion, not a sin- 



236 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

gle combination of its various elements, not a 
single development of its slumbering activities, 
not a single abnormal deviation from its ordi- 
nary channels, not a single manifestation of its 
effects on actual life, which is not displayed by 
the public press in the strongest colors that an 
ambitious rhetoric can give it. And thus, too, 
those sad and fearful chapters in human expe- 
rience, which, though filled with woe to the par- 
ties immediately concerned, once were scarcely 
known beyond the limits of a little commu- 
nity, are now presented to every reader in the 
land, with every circumstance that jean add 
force or piquancy to the narrative. IjThe col- 
umns of a single newspaper, without exaggera- 
tion, it may be said, contain more materials for 
stirring the sympathies of men, for good or for 
evil, than the unwritten lives of countless multi- 
tudesj They occupy the leisure moments of 
thousands, which would otherwise be given to 
listless rest, and furnish inexhaustible materials 
for thought or emotion, — the only kind, per- 
haps, which they ever obtain. The ephemeral 
sheet which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into 
the oven, goes forth on the wings of the wind, 
scattering its heterogeneous influences upon 
every description of person. A murder or a 
suicide, a breach of trust or an audacious rob- 
bery, committed in the obscurest corner of the 



THE PEACTICES OF THE TIMES. 237 

land, is proclaimed to all the world. The de- 
tails of a disgusting criminal trial, exposing the 
darkest aspects of our nature, find an audience 
that no court-room less than a hemisphere could 
hold ; and a tale of railroad or steamboat disas- 
ter stirs the blood of the Eastern lumberman in 
his camp, and of the California gold-hunter in 
his digging, even before the coroner's jury has 
rendered the usual verdict, " nobody to blame." 
The appeals of an aspiring demagogue, the de- 
bates of an excited convention, the platform of 
a political party, exercise the minds of millions, 
who, without this agency, would have moved 
on to their dying hour in happy ignorance of 
them all. 

It is a common impression that the newspa- 
per merely ministers to the natural curiosity of 
men to know what is passing around them ; but 
it has another and a far more important effect 
It is not every occurrence^ whose communica- 
tion to the world can be productive of unmin- 
gled good. For reasons just giver^no small 
proportion of those which are thrust upon the 
reader's attention, leave a positively unhealthy 
impressionj and when we consider that, be- 
sides the multitudes who, in addition to other 
reading, nevei pass a day without looking over 
a newspaper, there is a scarcely smaller number 
who read nothing else, we may get some faint 



238 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

idea of the magnitude of this result. The de- 
tails of vice and crime which occupy so large a 
space in the daily sheet, repeated day after day, 
familiarize the mind with their hideous features, 
and thus blunt the edge of its finer sensibilities. 
The effect of it all is, that the mind not only 
becomes careless of moral distinctions, but in- 
capable, in some degree, of perceiving themfl its , 
relish for the simply good and beautiful and 
true is lost, and in its place we find an insatia- 
ble craving for what will create a strong sensa- 
tion, and a positive sympathy, perhaps, with 
wrong and wrongdoers. By a well-known law 
of the animal economy, excessive activity of a 
function leads, at last, to a morbid condition of 
the organ ; and thus it is that this kind of men- 
tal activity becomes a prolific source of cerebral 
disorder, — not of the more palpable forms, such 
as inflammation or softening, but of a degree of 
irritability or abnormal erythism which often 
terminates in overt disease. 

The operation of the principle in question is 
clearly exemplified in the prevalence of suicide, 
as I have already intimated. In every commu- 
nity are many persons who, from one cause or 
another, have lost, in some degree, their natural 
attachment to life. Still, they have no matured 
nor settled intention of shortening their days. 
They tolerate life, and they may, perhaps, in 



THE PRACTICES OF THE TIMES. 239 

consequence of some change of circumstances, 
and especially of their own mental condition, 
regain their natural, healthy views of existence. 
While in this morbid state, however, they are 
at the mercy of every adverse circumstance, and 
even of the most trivial impressions. An ac- 
count of a suicide meets their eye, in the public 
prints, and absorbs their attention. With a 
kind of fascination, the mind dwells upon its 
details, which are related with extreme minute- 
ness, until it has no power to shut them out. 
Thus the slumbering spark is kindled into a 
flame, and the resolve is formed to follow the 
example, either blindly and automatically, or 
after a course of reflection somewhat like the 
following : " This man shuffled off the mortal 
coil when tired of it, and why should not I? 
The act was easily and speedily performed ; the 
circumstances are duly chronicled, even to the 
smallest particular ; for a few days his name is 
in every mouth ; his character, his conduct, his 
life, are discussed with all the curiosity incident 
to a nine days' wonder. The same distinction 

— it is a distinction, though it lasts but a day 

— I may also achieve. By death, I could ob- 
tain what I never have by living." The next 
day the details of a new suicide are borne to 
the remotest parts of the land. 

The correctness of these views may not be 



2-10 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

readily recognized by all, but let it not be sup- 
posed, for that reason, that we are fighting with 
shadows. The impression made upon the mind 
by surrounding influences is, in a great degree, 
a matter of temperament and culture ; and, 
therefore, nothing can be more different than 
the impression thus made on different individ- 
uals, under circumstances apparently similar. 
Within the whole circle of natural phenomena 
nothing is more strange, oftentimes, than the 
mental experience of one's own neighbor. An 
event scarcely noticed by one, is regarded by 
another with the deepest concern. An occur- 
rence, which to one suggests only matter of cu- 
rious speculation, in another touches the inmost 
springs of emotion. A popular movement 
which is viewed with pity and disgust by one 
class of minds, awakens the sympathies of an- 
other, and bears them along, willing captives in 
its irresistible course. Hence it is, that persons 
of a certain culture and moral temper find it 
difficult to conceive how the sheet whose con- 
tents they scan with more or less indifference, 
can be so potent an instrument of agitation to 
any description of readers. Nothing in it, un- 
less it may be a change of prices, makes much 
impression on them; overlooking, as they do, 
the fact, that in those crowded columns which 
they dismiss with a glance are details of vice 



THE PRACTICES OF THE TIMES. 241 

and crime, upon which many a reader ponders, 
until the mind is filled with images that cannot 
be frequently contemplated without danger. 
The tales of fiction, too, which abound in the 
newspaper press, often appeal to the coarsest 
sentiments of our nature, and are prized solely 
for the thrilling sensations which they excite. 
Nobody can suppose that such sensations help 
one to accomplish the true ends of living; and if 
so, their effect must necessarily be pernicious 
and unhealthy. 

Another trait in the intellectual character of 
our times has no little influence upon the health 
of the mind, though its importance in this con- 
nection has seldom been duly appreciated. 
Never before did so large a proportion of the 
current literature consist of works of imagina- 
tion, and never before did they, as a class, dis- 
play so much ability and artistic skill. Much 
of the literary talent of the time has been 
turned into this channel. Many a genius who, 
in a former period, would have expended his 
powers in producing an epic poem, or a pon- 
derous history, or, peradventure, a formidable 
folio of divinity, now seeks for honor and im- 
mortality in a series of novels. Although, no 
doubt, some of the richest and ripest talent of 
the age has been devoted to this class of pro- 
ductions, yet it is evident that, with the increase 
16 



242 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

of demand and supply, there has been a cor- 
responding facility of production. What was 
once the result of an arduous effort on the part 
of some veteran like Johnson or Fielding, is 
now accomplished with the utmost ease and 
rapidity by the humblest members of the craft 
of authorship. Young women, hardly arrived 
at the age of legal majority, put forth books 
that sell by thousands ; and a host besides, male 
and female, whom no man can number, con- 
tribute to swell the steadily increasing flood that 
issues from the press. 

The above facts indicate another fact, viz. that 
novels are now read by every description of per- 
sons, and by many who read nothing else. The 
high and the low, the rich and the poor, the 
learned and the unlearned, the old and the 
young, men and women, boys and girls, yield 
alike to the fascination ; some for the sake of 
amusement and the desire of a new sensation ; 
some from curiosity to see for themselves 
what has excited so strongly the interest of 
others ; and a few for the commendable purpose 
of becoming acquainted with every form of in- 
tellectual manifestation. The records of every 
popular public library will show, I apprehend, 
that of the books most called for within a given 
period, more than half are novels. 

The effect of this kind of reading on the men- 



THE PRACTICES OF THE TIMES. 243 

tal health is what we have to consider in the 
present inquiry. Of course it varies with the 
character of each individual mind, and with the 
circumstances that accompany it. Generally 
speaking, however, there can be no question 
that excessive indulgence in novel-reading nec- 
essarily enervates the mind and diminishes its 
power of endurance.^ In other departments of 
literature, such as biography and history, the 
mental powers are more or less exercised by 
the ideas which they convey. Facts are stored 
up in the memory, hints are obtained for the 
farther pursuit of knowledge, judgments are 
formed respecting character and actions, origi- 
nal thoughts are elicited, a spirit of investigation 
is excited, and, more than all, life is viewed as it 
really has been, and must be, lived. A mind 
thus furnished and disciplined is provided with 
a fund of reserved power to fall back upon when 
assailed by the adverse forces which, in some 
shape or other, at some time or other, all of us 
must expect to encounter. In novel-reading, on 
the contrary, the mind passively contemplates 
the scenes that are brought before it, and which, 
being chiefly addressed to the passions and 
emotions, naturally please without the neces- 
sity of effort or preparation. Of late years, a 
class of books has arisen, the sole object of which 
is to stir the feelings, not by ingenious plots. 



244 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

not by touchi«g4h e fi ner chords of the heart and 
skilfully unfolding the springs of action, not by 
arousing our sympathies for unadulterated, un- 
sophisticated goodness, truth, and beauty, for 
that would assimilate them to the immortal pro- 
ductions of Shakespeare and Scott; but by 
coarse exaggerations of every sentiment, by in- 
vesting every scene in glaring colors, and, in 
short, by every possible form of unnatural ex- 
citement. In all this there is little or no addi- 
tion to one's stock of knowledge, no element of 
mental strength is evolved, and no one is better 
prepared by it for encountering the stern reali- 
ties of life. The sickly sentimentality which 
craves this kind of stimulus is as different 
from the sensibility of a well-ordered mind, 
as the crimson flush of disease from the ruddy 
glow of high health. A mind that seeks its 
nutriment chiefly in books of this description is 
closed against the genial influences that flow 
from real joy and sorrow, and from all the beauty 
and heroism of common life. A refined selfish- 
ness is apt to prevail over every better feeling ; 
and, when the evil day comes, the higher senti- 
ments which bind us to our fellow-men by all 
the ties of benevolence and justice and venera- 
tion furnish no support nor consolation. Let 
me not be misunderstood. I do not say that no 
one can read a novel without endangering the 



THE PRACTICES OF THE TIMES. 245 

health of his mind, for under certain qualifica- 
tions, nothing could be farther from producing 
such a result than this kind of recreation. Who 
can number the hours of discomfort and sorrow 
which have been relieved of half their burden 
by the delightful fictions of Scott ? The specific 
doctrine I would inculcate is, that the excessive 
(indulgence in novel-reading^vhich is a charac- 
teristic of our times, is. chargeable with many of 
the mental irregularities that prevail among 
usjn a degree unknown at any former period. % 
yVIuch of the mental activity that characterizes 
our people arises from the abundant opportuni- 
ties that are offered for the pursuit of wealth, 
and the consequent variety and novelty of the 
enterprises undertaken for this purpose.) iTo 
follow on in the same path which his father trod 
before him^ turning neither to the right hand 
nor to the left, and perfectly content with a 
steady and sure, though it may be, slow prog- 
ress, circumscribing his wishes and aspirations 
within the range of his present pursuits, — [ihis 
may be agreeable enough to people of the old 
world, but not so to the greater part of those 
around us, who are hoping and striving to 
make, or greatly advance their fortunes^ by 
some happy stroke of skill, some nicely balanced 
combination of chances, or some daring specu- 
lation. The result all can see and admire, but 



246 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

yfew know anything of the wear and tear of 
mind by which it was achieved^ — of the labo- 
rious calculations, the anxious moments, the 
sleepless nights, the joy of success, the appre- 
hension of failure. Indeed, our ways of doing 
business, our notions of property, our ideas of 
happiness, all indicate, as strongly as traits of 
character can, that a large portion of our fellow- 
citizens habitually live and move and have their 
being, under an extraordinary pressure of excite- 
ment that brooks neither failure nor delay. If 
unsuccessful in one attempt, our inexhaustible 
resources furnish the means and opportunities 
of trying another, while misfortune and disap- 
pointment stimulate rather than depress the 
mental energies. Competition neither drives a 
man from his course, nor abstracts one tittle of 
his zeal and activity. With the world before 
him where to choose, he asks nothing but a fair 
field and no favor, in order to obtain its prizes. 
The hygienic effect of this spirit is obvious to 
any one accustomed to regard the operations of 
the mind from a medical point of view. The 
cracking strain of all the faculties most con- 
cerned in the management of business, the 
hopes and the fears, the joys and the sorrows, 
the anticipations of success or defeat, produce 
a rapid consumption of the mental energies, 
that strongly disposes to disease. 



THE PRACTICES OF THE TIMES. 247 

tip. no country in the world is trade pursued so 
much in the spirit of mere adventure as in this. 
Diligence, honesty, and intelligence reap their 
customary reward, it is true, but they cannot 
secure it against the numberless mischances 
that await it, — perils by sea and perils by land ; 
the fraud of one and the misfortune of another. 
Impulsive dashes at speculation take the place 
of well-matured, far-reaching plans; and reckless 
adventure suits the humor of the times better 
than sober, shrewd calculation. The strongest 
house looks forward occasionally with fear and 
trembling to the day when a heavy acceptance 
becomes due ; and the weaker ones expend more 
ingenuity in devising ways and means for meet- 
ing their obligations than in projecting new op- 
erations in business. LA pressure in the money- 
market banishes sleep from many a pillowjand 
the news of every steamer is scanned with gasp- 
ing eagerness by multitudes. Thus^-in count- 
less ways, the mercantile spirit of our times 
leads to a fitful and feverish activity of mind 
more destructive to its health^ than a far greater 
amount of steady, continuous exertion. 

Over and above that mental activity which 
is excited by the ordinary pursuits of lifel^here 
prevails among us a disposition to penetrate 
into untrodden fields_jof_ mquirp; to construct 
new systems of philosophy and science^ to be- 



248 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

come absorbed in themes of a special and pecul- 
iar character ; and especially to speculate in 
whatever is strange or mysterious, whether in 
the natural or spiritual world. Upeople once 
thought they might sometimes abide by the 
wisdom of their fathers jjthat some things were 
considered as settled, and others as confessedly 
beyond the reach of finite intelligence. 4n this 
belief they spared themselves a vast amount of 
the njental exercise which characterizes our 
timeaJ Of course, there were exceptions to the 
rule, but now the case seems to be reversed — 
Gyhat was once the exception is now almost the 
rule. "We question everything; we pry into 
everythingjA and we flatter ourselves that we 
bring many things to light. Subjects that once 
were supposed to be confined to the province of 
the learned, and even by them approached with 
a modest distrust of their abilities, are now dis- 
cussed by an order of minds that disdain the 
trammels of logic, and care little, for the estab- 
lished principles of science. LNo qualms of 
modesty disturb the complacency with which 
they discuss the obscurest themes and propound 
their theories and systems^ With them, all 
those laws and agencies of nature which are 
confessedly dark and hard to be understood, are 
favorite topics of speculation, while the difficul- 
ties that encumber them rather inflame their 



THE PRACTICES OF THE TIMES. 249 

curiosity than impress them with a becoming 
distrust of their powers. Animal magnetism, 
biology, communications with the spiritual 
world, have raised in multitudes a deeper in- 
terest than they ever manifest in those immuta- 
ble laws of nature, which, if understood and ob- 
served, would vastly enlarge the sum of human 
happiness. In all our cities and most of our 
villages, not a season passes when lectures are 
not given on one or all of the above-men- 
tioned subjects, to crowds of eager and believ- 
ing listeners, in many of whom they excite un- 
healthy meditation, while in not a few, they fur- 
nish the single additional element necessary 
to produce an attack of disease. I do not 
mean by this to say that there are some forms 
of truth or of error that ought not to be investi- 
gated. If dangerous in any way, so much the 
more necessary that their true nature should be 
understood and clearly exposed. But subjects 
like those just mentioned should be studied 
only by a strong and healthy order of minds, 
capable of examining their phenomena by the 
light of a sound and well-trained judgment, un- 
biassed by puerile fancies or a blind credulity. 
That such has not been the fact, only shows 
that those subjects have been more congenial to 
a class of persons in whose intellectual life a love 
of the marvellous has been a pervading element. 



250 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

^Another trait of our times strongly calculated 
to produce an unhealthy condition of mind, is 
the propensity to concentrate the thoughts and 
interests upon a single idea. ;.JWhatever object 
is deemed worthy of promotion, , whether in 
morals x politics, literature, or religion, that ob- 
ject |s^ thenceforth regarded as of paramount 
importance^ compared with which all others 
dwindle into insignificance. By the individual 
it is believed to be the great question of the 
day, and destined, like Aaron's rod, to swallow 
up every other. It occupies his thoughts by day, 
and haunts his dreams by night. In season and 
out of season, in the newspapers, in the conven- 
tion, in the legislature, in the social gathering, 
he pursues it with untiring pertinacity, and is 
always revolving some new scheme for its ad- 
vancement. He wonders that any one can feel 
less ardor in regard to his favorite idea than he 
does himself, and he doubts their benevolence or 
sagacity ; while those, however distinguished for 
their virtues, who take opposite views, he is apt 
to charge with dishonorable motives. iAt last 
he gets to believe that there is no hope for the 
race beyond the pale of his little ism or ology, 
and in his zeal for propagating it, he is 
ready to ride rough-shod over the most delib- 
erate convictions and most cherished sentiments 
of his fellow-men. This habitual confinement 



THE PRACTICES OF THE TIMES. 251 

to a very limited sphere of thought tends to in- 
vest the favorite idea with a false coloring, if I 
may so speak, which distorts its natural propor- 
tions and relations, until it finally assumes all 
the characters of a delusion. It becomes us all 
to beware how we indulge in this besetting 
habit of our times. I make no exception in 
favor of objects of unquestionable importance, 
for the result would not be very different. It is 
the complete surrender of the mind to the con- 
trol of any predominant idea, which constitutes 
the danger. Truth may have its fanatics as 
well as error. 

Another characteristic of the time deserving 
of notice in this connection, is a remarkable 
proneness to excess and exaggeration in its in- 
tellectual manifestations* Truth is supposed to 
require a high coloring to make it sufficiently 
impressive ; while the calm, the plain, the mod- 
erate, whether in the subject-matter, or the form 
of expression, is apt to be regarded as stale, flat, 
and unprofitable. No matter how sound the 
principle, or important the application, or correct 
the style; these qualities are well enough in 
their place, but to be made really effective, es- 
tablished landmarks must be jostled, shadowy 
distinctions set up, and the whole moral sense 
agitated with new T and unusual emotions. The 
object is less to convince than to move; less to 



252 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

gratify an earnest spirit of inquiry, than to 
startle and excite ; while the worth of any intel- 
lectual effort is measured solely by the sensation 
it produces. Eccentricity is confounded with 
originality, and the force of a clear apprehen- 
sion and an honest sagacity makes less impres- 
sion than the sparkle and glitter of exaggerated 
statement and strange and startling conclusions. 
High-sounding words are mistaken for depth of 
meaning, extravagance for intensity, and the 
feverish heat of a jaded fancy for the fervors of 
a true inspiration. Large is the class of peo- 
ple who care less for instruction than ex- 
citement ; and, looking upon humility as one of 
the obsolete virtues, they think more of letting 
their own light shine before men than of receiv- 
ing illumination from others. Instead of learn- 
ing their duty in the old-fashioned way, from 
the counsels of the wise and the precepts of 
Scripture, and earnestly striving to perform it, 
they start at once as apostles of reform, and woe 
to those who question their fitness for the mis- 
sion. Have we not seen young ladies just 
emerged from the restraints of school, scoffing 
at the opinions of the world, proclaiming their 
independence of authority and prescription, 
flouting at everything but their own conceit, 
and, without religion, without humility, going 
about in search of a God ? When the storm of 



THE PRACTICES OF THE TIMES. 253 

adversity and trial comes, they drift about at 
the mercy of the waves, with no anchor be- 
neath, no glimpse of clear, serene sky above 
them. 

In every department of intellectual effgrt, we 
witness this peculiar trait of our times. To be 
popular, philosophy must abound in startling 
theories, and challenge our strongest and deal- 
est convictions ; education must aim at appai - 
ently great resultsjjather than the vigorous 
growth and symmetrical development of the 
mental faculties ; poetry and romance must lay 
bare the morbid anatomy of the heart, in order 
to find the real sources of moral life and the 

r— 

true principles of social organization. ^Books 
papers, popular lectures, and too often, I fear 
the pulpit, all Justify of this insatiable craving 
for excitement, and of the general endeavor to 
minister to its demands. In the same spirit all 
progress is thought to be slow that does not ad 
vance at a railway-pace, and all ideas to be 
effete and barren that are not moulded after the 
fashion of the day or the hour. It cannot be 
questioned that this fondness of the intense, 
whether real or mock, is unfavorable to mental 
health, and has contributed, in some degree, to 
the increase of insanity among us. 

fPerhaps nothing is better calculated to foster 
the kind of mental activity in question, than the 



254 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

practical working of our republican institutions. 
A popular government necessarily implies, on 
the part of the people, a degrep of attention to 
political matters, unknown tor^thosewho exer- 
cise a more limited power. Almost every man 
has a voice in the affairs of the town, in the af- 
fairs of the county, in the affairs of the state, in 
the affairs of the nation, and they require much 
of his time and attention. One day, perhaps, 
his mind is strongly exercised with the question 
to be decided at the next town-meeting, whether 
the town will instruct its representative to vote 
for the new liquor-law ; the next, he is earnestly 
discussing with his neighbors the wisdom of 
the county commissioners in laying out a cer- 
tain road ; the next, he is striving hard for his 
favorite candidates in the approaching State- 
election ; and at all times, the presidential elec- 
tion, the doings of Congress, the movements of 
parties, are inexhaustible themes of earnest re- 
flection and exciting discourse. How different 
from us, in this respect, is every nation in 
Europe, even that which approaches us most 
nearly, both in blood and political institutions ! 
There, the public attention may be called once 
a year to the election of a mayor, but it is an 
even chance whether the individual is allowed 
to affect.the result directly. At longer periods, 
the election of a member of Parliament leads to 



THE PRACTICES OF THE TIMES. 255 

animated discussions of the great issues in- 
volved in the contest, and the measures of gov- 
ernment are viewed with intelligent interest ; 
but in all this feeling, there is often lacking that 
earnestness which springs from the fact, that 
he — the individual — is to contribute an active 
part to that result, and can help to do or 
undo whatever his sense of right or propriety 
may dictate. However this may be, the po- 
litical agitation which is never at rest around 
the citizen of a republic is constantly placing 
before him great questions of public policy, 
which may be decided with little knowledge of 
the subject, but none the less zeal 4- perhaps 
with more. In these as well as minor ques- 
tionsjllie feels it his duty to be always on the 
watch, remembering that " eternal vigilance is 
the price of liberty." It is not for him to sup- 
pose, in any national crisis or emergency, that 
the government will take care of the country, 
while he takes care of himself ; for he himself is 
the government, and he must lift up his voice, 
if not in the deliberations of the cabinet, yet in 
those scarcely less effective, of the caucus or 
the convention. In short, whatever may be the 
occasion, he feels called upon to have an opin- 
ion of his own ; and free to proclaim it, if he 
please, to all the world. 
^But the mental activity which is excited di- 



256 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

rectly by free institutions is not confined to po- 
litical matters. It pervades every sphere of ac- 
tion, every exercise of thought} The almost 
complete freedom from restraint, and the inde- 
pendence of foreign control, even in matters of 
opinion merely, lead to a certain hurry and im- 
petuosity of the vital movements, and to an im- 
patience that seeks for results by extraordinary 
effort or superficial methods. Between the 
calm, steady, and persevering endeavor, the ad- 
herence to routine and prescription, which mark 
the European, and the novel, dashing career of 
the American, defying all rule and contrary to 
all precedent, what a remarkable contrast ! 
And as if our own particular pursuits and the 
practical exigencies of life were not sufficient to 
absorb our thoughts and interests, we rush into 
every strife and take sides in <gyery question 
that agitates the public mind, ujpthing is so 
remote from our special duties and customary 
thoughts, and so clearly within the province of 
a professional training, as to deter us from hav- 
ing an opinion of our own respecting it\and 
(&ven of making it the basis of practical action. 
i^We have no idea of any division of labor here/ 
and think ourselves as competent to sit in judg- 
ment on questions that have accidentally been 
brought before the public notice, as they 
who have made them the study of a lifetime. 



THE PRACTICES OF THE TIMES. 257 

If, in this way. every man is not precisely his 
own doctor, or lawyer, or minister, yet he enters 
with the zeal of a partisan into every contest 
between rival systems of medicine, law, or di- 
vinity. He catches the battle-cries raised by 
contending sects, and plunges into the strife 
with as much ardor and recklessness as if his 
means of living depended upon the result. 
yHow different, in this respect, is the present gen- 
eration from all the past, in which people were 
quite satisfied, sometimes, with taking their 
opinions on trust, in the belief that others 
might be better qualified by education and ex- 
perience to form them, than they were them- 
selves, and thereby avoided one fertile source of 
that excitement and agitation which prepare 
the mind for disease. 

Another serious evil of our times, especially 
important as being the prolific parent of many 
others, consists in the popular views on the sub- 
ject of education. It will scarcely be denied 
that the proper training and development of the 
moral powers are necessary to the promotion of 
the moraJLand physical well-being of the indi- 
vidual. I^The paramount object of education — 
that alone which should be recognized as such 
in a Christian community — should^ be to make 
good men ; not merely learned men^filled with, 
various knowledge, but men ever true to th& 

17/ 



258 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

right, the honorable, the honest, and ever ready- 
to acknowledge the claims of their fellow-men 
upon their sympathy and support. Indeed, the 
necessity of stating such a proposition with any 
degree of formality shows, better than anything 
else could, the extent of the neglect in question. 
The idea almost universally associated with ed- 
ucation is that of furnishing the mind with 
a certain amount of attainment in various 
branches of knowledge ; so much arithmetic, 
so much geometry, so much grammar, so much 
geography, &c. If any higher idea than this is 
connected with the subject, it is only that of 
disciplining the intellectual powers in such a 
manner as to fit them better for fresh acquisi- 
tions and for the practical business of life. 
That every individual has received from nature 
certain faculties whose activity and direction 
will have an important bearing on his happi- 
ness as connected with his relations to his fel- 
low-men, no one doubts ; but the apprehension 
that they may not receive their rightful share of 
attention in the common modes of education, 
seems not to be entertained at all. To few 
comparatively has it ever occurred, that the 
training of these faculties is a legitimate object 
of education in the popular sense of the term. 
To make any proficiency in this or that branch 
of knowledge, a course of special instruction by 



THE PRACTICES OF THE TIMES. 259 

means of books, teachers, and apparatus, is re- 
garded as indispensable. On the other hand, to 
make men pure, benevolent, conscientious, com- 
passionate, obedient to God, and faithful to 
man, desirable and important as these traits are 
universally considered, no special aids of educa- 
tion are recognized and provided. 

/There remains but one other source which, at 
present, could possibly furnish the moral culture 
so desirable, — I mean the family, the home." 
Here, then, if anywhere, we are to look for that 
moral training which is to fit our youth for the 
active pursuits of life, and preparejhem to meet 
its seductions and its duties. yHere, if any- 
where, they are to acquire the power of govern- 
ing passion and resisting the impulses of the 
lower appetites ;^of discerning the nicer shades 
of right and wrong ; of sacrificing self to the call 
of benevolence or duty ; and, amid trial and 
change, steadily keeping in view the great ends 
and purposes of life. The time has never been 
when this kind of training in its highest condi- 
tion, was very general in our country ; but I 
submit, as a matter of fact, whether^jjnperfect 
as it has been, it has not greatly declined during 
the last few generations! Unquestionably, at 
one time, the domestic rule was needlessly rigid 
and disagreeable^ and led to an asceticism of 
manners equally prejudicial to the mental health 



260 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

and the moral welfare. At present, however, 
we have little to fear from this source, the dan- 
ger all lying in the opposite direction. [The as- 
ceticism of our ancestors was infinitely less in- 
^ jurious than the license which characterizes the 

domestic training of their descendants!] How 
many of this generation complete their child- 
hood,[scarcely feeling the dominion of any will 
but their own, and obeying no higher law than 
the caprice of the moment^ Instead of the firm 
but gentle sway that quietly represses or mod- 
erates every outbreak of temper, — that checks 
the impatience of desire, that requires and en- 
courages self-denial, and turns the performance 
of duty into pleasure, — they experience only that 
feeble and fitful rule that yields to the slightest 
opposition, and rather stimulates than represses 
the selfish manifestations of our nature. \After 
such a beginning, it could hardly be expected 
that during the transition period between child- 
hood and manhood, the voice of parental au- 
thority would be more faithfully heeded^ In 
the rapidly widening circle of desire, lessons of 
moderation and temperance make less and less 
impression on the heart. JAmid the selfishness 
around him, which begins by disgusting and 
ends in subduing his unsophisticated nature, the 
youth is little enabled to add new power to 
the calls of conscience. Enlarged means of 



THE PRACTICES OF THE TIMES. 261 

self-gratification strengthen no effort of self- 
denial ; and in the presence of companions a few 
steps farther advanced in the career of indul- 
gence, every manly sentiment is stifled, every 
noble aspiration is repressed, until at last, and 
long before the age of legal majority, the moral 
nature presents a dead level of heartless worldli- 
ness. The instructions of school or college may 
continue, but less than ever are they applied to 
the issues of the heart, j The family circle is yet 
unbroken, but its moral influence is gradually ^ 
enfeebled, because wanting the sanction of au- 
thority^ The passions become more imperious 
with every indulgence, each successive tempta- 
tion is more faintly resisted, and llife begins to 
be contemplated, not as a field of discipline and 
improvement, but a scene of inexhaustible op- 
portunities for fulfilling hope and gratifying ■ 
desire! Could we look into the inmost cham- 
bers of the youthful mind, how seldom should 
we fail to see an imagination teeming with 
unhallowed desires and ambitious schemes, an 
impatience of salutary restraint, a self-reliance 
that has in it no element of faith, and views of 
duty ennobled by no higher principle than that 
of selfishness. 

The legitimate result of these defects in edu- 
cation is, that finally, the ordinary virtues of life 
are degraded to a very subordinate rank. Pa- 



262 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

tient and persevering industry with its slow and 
moderate rewards, honest frugality and a tem- 
perance that restrains every excess, frequent 
and faithful self-examination, clear and well- 
digested views of duty, become distasteful to 
the mind, which can breathe only an atmos- 
phere of excitement, craving stimulus that rap- 
idly consumes its energies and destroys that 
elasticity which enables it to arise from every 
pressure with new vigor and increased power of 
endurance. It reels under the first stroke of dis- 
appointment, and with the loss of those objects 
on which it had placed its affections, it turns 
upon itself to revolve some hateful idea, until 
it becomes a fixed and vivid delusion. And 
thus it is that many a man becomes insane by 
exposing himself to extraordinary trial and 
temptation, with none of those conservative 
principles which a really good education can 
impart. 

Neither are some of the prevalent views re- 
specting the intellectual education of our youth 
any better calculated to promote the health of 
the mind. In the worthiest sense of the term, it 
means something more than the acquirement of 
so much knowledge. It falls far short of its 
highest purposes, when it fails of securing disci- 
pline, growth, and strength, among its results. 
In our anxiety to obtain speedy and tangible re- 



THE PRACTICES OF THE TIMES. 263 

suits, we manage the education of our children 
somewhat as we often manage our capital, go- 
ing upon the plan of quick returns and small 
profits. They are made to go over much 
ground in a given time ; their accumulations 
are large and showy, if not solid ; but the proc- 
ess whereby this result is accomplished, instead 
of adding much to the available power of the 
mind, has often the contrary effect. A strong 
and well-balanced mind — I leave out of the 
question great minds, for they are made by na- 
ture — a mind capable of clearly discerning the 
essential conditions of a question, stripped of 
all accidental and adventitious circumstances ; of 
never confounding the suggestions of fancy or 
fashion with the deductions of pure reason, can- 
not be a frequent result of the training so com- 
mon among us. It may make brilliant and 
showy men, not incapable, in fact, of producing 
a sensation in the world ; but it will not preserve 
them from the seductions of fashionable sys- 
tems in philosophy or morals, nor fit them, in 
the best possible manner, for the practical exi- 
gencies of life. The fact accounts sufficiently 
for the prevailing disposition to run after novel- 
ties, and dwell with absorbing interest on what- 
ever excites a giddy curiosity or stimulates the 
sense of the marvellous. Under a more rational 
training, we have a right to suppose that a mul- 



264 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

titude of objects which now seriously engage 
the attention of men, with no better result 
than to weaken, if not destroy, every conserva- 
tive principle in their minds, would never be 
entertained, and thus a prolific source of mental 
deterioration would be avoided. 

The prevalent views on the subject of in- 
tellectual training are responsible for much of 
the prevalent mental infirmity and inefficiency. 
And certainly the cause is perfectly adequate to 
the effect. We all recognize the correctness of 
the principle in question, in regard to physical 
training. We never imagine that the wrestler, 
or rower, or runner, can obtain the vigor and 
hardihood necessary for success, by sleeping on 
down, indulging in luxurious food, and living at 
ease. We know that they can be obtained only 
by a long-continued, arduous, uncompromis- 
ing system of training. The growth and devel- 
opment of the mind is subjected to the opera- 
tion of the same law, but we have had frequent 
occasions already to show how little the fact 
is recognized. It is worth our while to consider 
another error in youthful training, because it is 
very common and supposed to be very innocent, 
though calculated, beyond any other error, to 
impair the future efficiency of the mind. It is 
supposed that children are incapable of com- 
prehending books made for the use of grown-up 



THE PRACTICES OF THE TIMES. 265 

people, and the idea, fully carried out, at the 
present day, of furnishing the youthful under- 
standing with special helps and appliances, in 
the shape of juvenile books, is regarded as one 
of the great improvements of the age. It is 
consummate folly, no doubt, to put into the 
hands of a child a book quite beyond his power 
of comprehending, but in our endeavor to make 
everything simple and easy, to strew the path 
of knowledge with flowers, to remove, in short, 
every occasion for effort and struggle, we have 
erred as far to the opposite extreme. 

The world has, probably, never been without 
juvenile books since books began to be printed ; 
but, while in former days they were compara- 
tively few, in the form of some simple tale or 
traditionary legend, they are now as " thick as 
leaves in Vallombrosa," embracing every topic 
supposed to afford materials for instruction or 
amusement, and constituting a distinct depart- 
ment of literature. The object seems to be, 
either to bring the subject treated nearer the 
juvenile comprehension, by simplifying the 
thoughts and the language, or to render it 
more attractive, by blending with it a little ro- 
mance, upon Lord Bacon's principle, I suppose, 
that " the mixture of a lie doth ever add pleas- 
ure." Much of the most respectable talent of 
the time is engaged in supplying the demand 



266 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

for these books, and this supply, joined with 
that which evinces no talent at all, is devoured 
by the child, with a rapidity unknown to the 
tardier movements of riper intellects. What- 
ever the subject which the progress of knowl- 
edge has brought forward, sooner or later it gets 
into the shape of a book for children, with all 
the accessory attractions which the ingenuity of 
the printer, the binder, and the engraver can fur- 
nish. Is it desired to acquaint the young pupil 
with the history of a certain period, or the life 
of a great man ; it would indicate a long dis- 
tance behind the times, to refer him to those 
immortal writings in which the events and the 
actors are described. There is always at hand 
some little book containing the desired informa- 
tion in miniature, divested of all hard words 
and troublesome reflections, and, peradventure, 
invested in the garb of an attractive tale. Is it 
desired to inculcate some important truth in re- 
ligion, suitable to guide the life and keep the 
heart from evil ; it is thought that the purpose 
cannot better be accomplished than by means 
of a story abounding in incident and adventure, 
and ending, probably, with love and a marriage. 
Is a lesson in morals to be stamped on the ten- 
der mind ; still the never-failing little book will 
render unnecessary any recurrence to such ob- 
solete authors as Johnson or Paley. Is botany 



THE PRACTICES OF THE TIMES. 267 

or chemistry, or physics, to be taught ; still the 
means are the same. Even the beautiful sim- 
plicity of the sacred oracles has not saved them 
from being converted into namby-pamby, to ac- 
commodate them to the taste of the rising gen- 
eration, and high dignitaries of the church are 
not wanting to give their sanction to the de- 
plorable preparation. In short, nothing seems 
to be too profound, nothing too simple, nothing 
too high, nothing too ignoble, to be brought 
within the compass of this class of books. 
They have come upon the land, like the 
locusts of Egypt. They are piled up, ceiling- 
high, on the shelves of every bookstore ; they 
fill the closets and tables of every domestic 
dwelling, from the hovel to the palace ; and, as 
if they were the most approved means of lead- 
ing the steps of the young into the paths of 
virtue, and enlightening their minds with a 
knowledge of the truth, they form the great 
staple of every Sunday-school library in the 
country. 

Qt is a sufficient objection to this juvenile lit- 
erature,, that it vitiates the taste, weakens the 
understanding, and indisposes and unfits it for a 
more elevated kind of reading. By having the 
results of science and art, the lessons of moral- 
ity and religion, ever presented in the garb of a 
story, with lively incidents and an agreeable 



268 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

ending, — vice punished and virtue rewarded, 
according to the most approved methods of ro- 
mance, — the youth imbibes false ideas of the 
stern realities of life, and finds the common and 
unadulterated truth too insipid to awaken any 
interest in his mind. Indeed, these books are 
read, or, more correctly speaking, devoured, not 
so much for the sake of instruction as amuse- 
ment ; not so much for the principles they may 
profess to inculcate, as the incidents and ad- 
ventures in which they abound. This result is 
just what might have been expected; and I sub- 
mit to those who have better means of judging, 
whether, as a consequence of this result, the 
youth of our time do not manifest a marked 
unwillingness to give their attention to anything 
calculated to excite any activity of the higher 
mental faculties. Many a man, I imagine, who 
finds his children arrived at their twelfth or thir- 
teenth year with no other intellectual furnishing 
than such books supply, bethinks himself, all at 
once, that long before that age he loved to re- 
sort to his father's library, and hang with delight 
over the pages of some unwieldy history or 
book of voyages ; or, in the absence of more at- 
tractive material, plunge into the mazes of con- 
troversial divinity. The lads of this generation 
would stand aghast at sight of the huge folios 
and formidable octavos over which their fathers 



THE PRACTICES OF THE TIMES. 269 

spent many a Saturday afternoon, laying up 
treasures of knowledge as enduring as life. 
Their mental aliment must be subjected to a 
process of preparation, whereby it is deprived of 
its bones and sinews, and seasoned with stimu- 
lants to provoke a fastidious and jaded appetite. 
If this is a fair statement of the effects that 
have arisen from the abundance of juvenile 
books, it scarcely admits of a question, whether 
the youth of former times were not more 
fortunate, who, after having mastered the con- 
tents of every book in the house and neighbor- 
hood, looked forward with a pleasurable impa- 
tience, as Daniel Webster says he and his 
brother were accustomed to, to the advent of 
the new-year's almanac. I doubt not those 
great men derived more benefit from that hum- 
ble annual than they would from an unlimited 
supply of juvenile books ; for in less than twenty- 
four hours, every line of poetry was committed 
to memory, every date fixed in the mind, every 
apothegm duly pondered, and every arithmetical 
puzzle solved.* 

iWe greatly underrate the youthful intellect in 

* It will be observed, I trust, that the objection is urged against 
the excessive use of juvenile books, without implicating the charac- 
ter of any particular writer. Many an admirable book has been 
written for children, and the names of Barbauld, Edgeworth, and 
Sedgwick, are associated with memories as profitable as they are 
pleasant. 



270 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

supposing that a special class of books is need- 
ful for furnishing it with intelligible and at- 
tractive reading^ The mistake is the more cu- 
rious, inasmuch as it occurs by the side of an- 
other of the opposite character. The very boys 
and girls who are practically supposed to be un- 
able to read a history except in a diluted state, 
are kept, for years together, upon the study 
of grammar — a science which, even in its ele- 
mentary state, is of a most abstruse and meta- 
physical character. \And many other school 
studies, such as geometry, algebra, rhetoric, 
mental philosophy, require a far greater reach of 
intellect than many of those works which are 
the glory of English literature^ I believe that 
those works will furnish an abundance of suita- 
ble reading for a youth ten years old and up- 
wards ; and no one can suppose that they are 
not better adapted to improve the taste and cul- 
tivate the higher powers of the mind than the 
juvenile books of the day. He may not per- 
ceive, at every step, the keen sagacity of Gib- 
bon, nor fully appreciate the quiet graces of 
Prescott and Irving, but he will learn on good 
authority the facts of history, and feel some- 
what of its grandeur and dignity. He may not 
perceive the full significance of Shakespeare's 
greatest thoughts, nor be charmed with the har- 
mony of Spenser's verse, " in lines of linked 



THE PRACTICES OF THE TIMES. 271 

sweetness long drawn out," but he will catch 
an occasional glimpse of the clear upper sphere 
in which the poet moves, and fix in his mind 
many an image of purity and loveliness, of 
tried virtue and high-souled sacrifice, that will 
preserve it, in some measure, from the contami- 
nation of ignoble thoughts and desires. I think 
no one will maintain that boys or girls twelve 
years old, of fair parts and tolerably educated, 
are incapable of understanding and enjoying 
the greater part of Addison, Pope, Goldsmith, 
Robertson, Hume, Cowper, Burns, Southey, 
Macaulay, Scott, and Crabbe. And yet how 
many such youth there are, who never read be- 
yond a page or two of these authors, nor even 
heard their names ! Indeed, if a person, recol- 
lecting the delightful hours they furnished him 
when first gratifying his love of intellectual 
pleasures, should propose them to the youth of 
this generation, he would be likely to be re- 
garded with a look of curiosity, as a man born 
out of due time, or, at any rate, quite behind 
the age which has provided more suitable ali- 
ment for the tender mind, in the preparations of 
Peter Parley and his prolific school. This is 
a serious matter and well-deserving attention; 
but I can only say, in conclusion, that we may 
carry our systems of school-instruction to the 
highest point of perfection, yet, so long as the 



272 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

juvenile literature of our times maintains its 
present place in the popular estimation, it will 
be in vain to expect a generation of vigorous, 
self-relying, healthy minds. Important, how- 
ever, as all this is, it is but incidental and sub- 
ordinate to a point of still greater importance. 

The habit of reading books that excite but 
little activity of thought becomes too strongly 
fixed to be weakened by the higher aims and 
purer tastes of riper years. The youth has read, 
not that he might learn to think, but that he 
might be amused, and as the appetite only 
grows by what it feeds upon, increase of years 
produces no change in the object of his reading. 
True, the books of children have lost their 
wonted power to charm ; but now their place is 
supplied by another and far more objectionable 
kind. The faculty of the mind chiefly ad- 
dressed in both is the imagination, or that 
power which forms ideal creations abundantly 
endowed with those incidents and attributes 
that constitute the greatest charms in actual 
realities. In earlier years, the pleasure thus ob- 
tained is undoubtedly innocent though enervat- 
ing, and has in it no taint of sin. But at the 
later period we are now considering, a change 
has come over the whole spirit of the youth. A 
new order of emotions, desires, and aspirations 
has arisen within him, and a veil has been lifted 



THE PRACTICES OF THE TIMES. 273 

from before his vision, disclosing creations of 
exquisite loveliness whose earthly types are ever 
near to enliven his conceptions and give them 
an almost objective existence. The relations of 
the sexes, scarcely thought of before, have be- 
come the predominant subject of his thoughts, 
and he feels the witchery of an irresistible spell 
stealing over his senses, and polarizing, if I may 
borrow a term from physical science, the very 
fountains of his being. To meet this state of 
things, to touch the chord that nature has 
strung, apparently, for the very purpose, there 
has appeared the description of publications 
just alluded to. Although their predominant 
features are love and romance, they have few 
points in common with the works of the great 
masters of fictitious writing. Although the 
course of true love is a constant ingredient of 
the latter, yet it is often subordinate to a 
higher object, and the impurities with which it 
is associated are indicative of bad manners 
rather than bad morals. But censurable as 
the works of some of the older writers un- 
doubtedly are, on this score, they are altogether 
too tame, too much hampered by a decent re- 
spect for decorum, to fulfil exactly the object in 
question, — that of stimulating the passions of a 
tender mind enervated by vicious training, and 
kindling with new and untried desires. Though 
18 



274 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

embracing much that deserves no stronger epi- 
thet of censure than foolish or frivolous, yet the 
greater part of this kind of literature is calcu- 
lated, if not designed, to debase the tone of 
moral sentiment, to suggest impure ideas, and 
send forth the imagination to wander into un- 
hallowed paths. 

Now let us consider the youth in that transi- 
tion period which separates boyhood from man- 
hood. His mind has become enfeebled by an 
incessant repletion of juvenile literature, and is 
unconscious of any manly thoughts or lofty as- 
pirations gained by communion with a higher 
order of intellect than his own. In this condi- 
tion the allurements of sense are spread before 
him in every variety of form, and his ear is 
open to every siren song that floats upon the 
breeze. He has much leisure, which his tastes 
dispose him to occupy with reading, and when 
we consider his previous habits and the present 
epoch of his life, we cannot be surprised that he 
should make the acquaintance of this descrip- 
tion of books, and abandon himself, body and 
soul, to their allurements. I say advisedly, 
body and soul, for the mischievous effects are 
as obvious and as ruinous upon the one as they 
are on the other. By a law of our constitution, 
violent mental emotions thrill through the 
bodily frame, and this participates in the vital 



THE PRACTICES OF THE TIMES. 275 

movement. Here, body and mind act and react 
on each other, and often, so far as the final re- 
sult is concerned, it seems to be immaterial 
whether the first impression be made on one or 
the other. In these books, the tender passion 
is presented with none of those refinements 
with which it is associated in pure and culti- 
vated minds. It is designedly made carnal and 
provocative of impure desire, and the youth who 
surrenders himself to its seductions becomes 
thenceforth a stranger to every manly senti- 
ment, while his imagination revels in a world of 
sense, filled with the charms of a Mahommedan 
paradise. From this point there is but one step, 
it is true, to actual, overt licentiousness ; but a 
lingering feeling of shame, a faint sense of re- 
sponsibility, and a timidity natural under the 
circumstances, often hold him back from taking 
that step, and he is contented to indulge in se- 
cret, with such means as nature has provided. 
Month after month, year after year, are spent 
in this dreamy existence, the unholy flame con- 
stantly nourished by the kind of reading in 
question, and its debasing effects as constantly 
assisted by the habit of self-indulgence. Sooner 
or later there begins a series of pathological 
phenomena which, with more or less rapidity, 
but usually covering a period of years, conduct 
their miserable subject to mental and physical 



276 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

ruin. I forbear to dwell on the details of this 
fearful condition, — the muscular system falter- 
ing under the least exertion, and constantly op- 
pressed by a sense of lassitude and fatigue ; the 
nervous system overcharged with irritability, af- 
fected by the slightest emotion, and turned into 
a source of weariness and pain ; the mind tor- 
tured almost to distraction by groundless anx- 
iety and self-reproach, harassed by a sense of 
guilt, and vague apprehension of a future dis- 
closing not a single ray of hope, and revolving 
thoughts of suicide, as the only means of escap- 
ing from the ever-gnawing worm. Neither 
would I dwell upon the more common phasis 
of this condition : the cloud of delusion that 
rapidly envelopes the whole mind and distorts 
all its relations ; the utter loss of the power of 
connected thought ; the suspicions, jealousies, 
and ungovernable impulses that precipitate the 
individual into some fearful act of violence ; and 
that final brutalization of our nature, where, for 
years together, no spark of humanity gleams 
through the loathsome prison-house of flesh. 
But I implore the teacher and the parent to 
think of these things, and prevent, as they prob- 
ably may, an evil which they cannot cure. 
Could they witness occasionally, as I do every 
day, the melancholy results that may be fairly 
attributed to that kind of mental training which 



THE PRACTICES OF THE TIMES. 277 

stimulates the imagination and the lower moral 
sentiments, they would not suspect me of repre- 
senting an infrequent accident in the light of a 
great and wide-spreading evil. In every hospital 
for the insane there may be seen a form of dis- 
ease preeminently loathsome and difficult of 
cure, many cases of which, I doubt not, may be 
traced to the kind of reading in question. How 
many a noble intellect that once gave promise 
of the soundest fruit has thus been blasted, and 
with it the hopes, the pride, the solace, of many 
loving hearts, the world generally has but little 
conception. 

From what has been said, it cannot be 
doubted that the people of our times live in 
an atmosphere of excitement, which, without 
the most prudent management, is calculated to 
impair the vigor of the mind and facilitate the 
invasion of disease. In order the better to esti- 
mate the psychological effects of this general 
fact, it may be well to contemplate some of the 
phases of that remarkable change which has 
come over the whole face of society, within the 
last fifty or seventy-five years. Take, for in- 
stance, as particularly applicable to our pur- 
pose, the family of a mechanic, or farmer, or 
small trader, in some country town of New 
England, at the beginning of that period, and 
compare it, in regard to its mental movements, 



278 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

with such a family at the present time. The ex- 
penses of a growing household, and the natural 
desire of making some provision for the future, 
require, on the part of the elders, unremitting 
toil. ; Their labors commence with early dawn, 
and are prolonged into the shades of evening. 
They have neither leisure nor inclination to be- 
stow many thoughts upon anything far beyond 
the circle of their customary pursuits ; and their 
happiness consists chiefly in witnessing the ac- 
cumulation of their worldly stores and cultivat- 
ing the domestic affections. ( Outward sources of 
gratification are too few to furnish much relief 
to the monotony of their daily life. Social in- 
tercourse is limited by the same necessities that 
confine them to their homes and their labors. 
Besides the Sabbath and the national holidays, 
they recognize no interval of rest or relaxation ; 
and an excursion or picnic, or any other con- 
trivance solely for the purpose of pleasure, is an 
event seldom recorded in their calendar. They 
go to meeting on Sunday, where tired nature 
often claims her rights, while the preacher plods 
along from firstly to seventeenthly through the 
beaten track of old New England divinity. 
When work is not too pressing, the legal voters 
in the family attend the elections, and with the 
performance of this duty all farther thought 
respecting the politics of the day is dismissed. 



THE PRACTICES OF THE TIMES. 279 

Their patriotism needs not the aid of mass 
meetings or torch-light processions. No fears 
of a crisis, nor the agitations of a civil conflict, 
disturb their peace, and however an election 
may go, they never doubt that the world will 
move on very much as before. The mother is 
fully occupied with family cares, but her simple 
wants and moderate wishes urge her to no toils 
beyond her strength. Labor is the law of her 
being, beneficent and salutary, like all other 
natural laws, rather than a dire necessity that 
must be met at whatever cost. jThe sons and 
daughters^ share in the domestic duties, except 
during the two or three months in winter, when 
they attend school to obtain the little learning 
that satisfies their wishes. They have but little 
more social intercourse than their elders ; and a 
militia-muster, a husking, or a sleigh-ride, once 
a year, constitute their sole means of relaxation. 
Their willing feet may, occasionally, have made 
the acquaintance of the dance ; but the idea of 
a theatre or an opera or a concert exists for 
them, only in the pictures of the imagination. 
?Fhey never puzzle themselves about their mis- 
sion in life, but quietly perform their daily duty, 
and lie down at night to enjoy long and sound 
repose. Unaccustomed to the refinements of 
civilization, and braving every day the rigor of 
the elements, they retain unimpaired,^ for the 



280 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

most part, the natural vigor of their constitu- 
tion ; and when the shock of adversity comes, 
they stand it without going mad or committing 
suicide. A newspaper is seldom seen in the 
house, and the advent of a letter makes an 
epoch in the family history. The domestic li- 
brary is limited, probably, to Bunyan's Pilgrim, 
Pike's Arithmetic, Watts's Hymns, a tract or 
two on controversial divinity, and a half-dozen 
more, perhaps, of well-thumbed volumes which 
by some lucky chance have drifted within their 
precincts. [No great questions of the day exer- 
cise their wits, and no fashionable follies have 
turned their heads or impaired their health. 
They are contented with small gains^jand if 
visions of wealth and magnificence sometimes 
rise before them, they seldom endeavor to turn 
them into practical reality. iThey are not ex- 
empt from disease ; but it is far more likely to 
be a fever or a rheumatism, than an affection of 
the spine, a dyspepsia, or insanity. 

How different from all this the circumstances 
of a family occupying a corresponding position 
in the social scale, at the present day A No pos- 
sible arrangement can keep it witEout the vor- 
tex of excitement which draws into its circling 
eddies every living mortal. Its members, each 
and all, have much to think of besides their ac- 
customed labors, which, with the males, are 



THE PRACTICES OP THE TIMES. 281 

supposed to be limited by an ordinance of 
Providence, if not by the laws of man, to just 
ten hours a day, or less. /The domestic circle is 
entirely too small to bound their affections, 
their interests, or their wishes. The head of the 
family has felt the desire of distinction, and 
sought the favor of his fellow-townsmen. He 
aspires to a seat in the legislature, or a place on 
the board of selectmen, and his political ad- 
vancement has become to him a source of much 
anxiety and care. He attends conventions for 
nominating candidates, and the results of the 
elections are watched with the deepest interest. 
In the affairs of the religious society with which 
he is connected, he may be an active mover ; 
and on the various points that require to be set- 
tled from time to time, — such as the painting of 
the church, the purchase of an organ, or the dis- 
mission of the minister, — he is sorely exercised by 
the diverse views of his fellow-worshippers. He 
is always ready to discuss great questions, and 
whether it be a matter of politics or religion, he 
has an opinion of his own, and is glad of an op- 
portunity to defend it. The partner of his 
bosom looks well to the ways of her household, 
but she has an eye to other ways than these^ 
The narrowest means and the severest toil do 
not entirely repress the risings of an ambition 
excited by the display of superior luxury and 



282 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

leisure around her. She finds that the public 
has claims on her attention which she is per- 
fectly willing to meet. iAs often as once a 
week, at least, there is a meeting of some chari- 
table society, which she is bound to attendQand 
at no less frequent intervals, subscriptions are 
to be collected for some favorite object, or a 
poor family to be looked after, or a special effort 
to be made for some extraordinary purpose. 
Her worldly views, too, are more aspiring than 
she is, probably, willing to admit, and the set- 
tlement of her children is a fruitful source both 
of pleasing and painful emotions. UEhe sons 
quit the shelter of the parental wing at an 
early period, and rush to the principal marts of 
business, \ where ^ a happier fortune seems to 
await flbem. The quiet monotony of their 
country home is exchanged for the bustle and 
hurry and change always incident to the strug? 
gle for success in the great thoroughfares of life^ 
To be contented with the gains of common, 
plodding industry, would betray an ignoble 
spirit, not in accordance with the times, and so 
they enter upon a restless, uneven career. No 
doubt, their wits are sharpened by the collisions 
that attend it, but the draft which is made upon 
their nervous energies by this incessant strain 
of the faculties would suffice, a half-dozen 
times, for all the exigencies of the life of a hum- 



THE PRACTICES OF THE TIMES. 283 

ble farmer or mechanic, a half-century ago. | It 

may not end in positive insanity ; but it pro- 
duces in their offspring, if not in themselves, a 
degree of nervous irritability thaimay easily be 
converted into overt disease^ \The daughters^ 
too, contract very different habits and entertain 
very different views of life from those which 
prevailed in their grandmothers' time. JDomes- 
tic duties may not be despised, perhaps ; but 
they are endured rather than enjoyed,; and, un- 
welcome as they are, they are relieved by many 
a solace not dreamed of in former times. The 
family library is no longer the meagre and 
musty collection just described, but it contains 
some of the classics of the language, albeit the 
yellow-covered literature of the day constitutes 
its predominant ingredient, and distils its se- 
ductive poison into their eager imaginations. 
The facilities of travel bring within their means 
the agreeable pastime of visiting distant friends, 
and even tasting the delights which the crowded 
city alone can furnish to gratify the senses and 
imagination. A new world discloses its glories 
to their admiring gaze, and who shall estimate 
the amount of emotion, of one kind or another, 
which it kindles! Vague, indefinite longings 
for something beyond their reach, a restless im- 
patience of the humble realities of their lot, an 
impotent straining for the glittering prizes of 



284 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

life — these have become a part of their daily- 
moral experience, and exert their legitimate ef- 
fect on the health of the mind. Let us carefully 
consider these two phases of our domestic and 
social life, observing the very different manner 
in which the nervous system is tasked under 
each of them, and we shall then understand 
how it is that, with every advance in civiliza- 
tion, we increase our proneness to nervous dis- 
ease. 



TENDENCIES TO DISEASE. 2S5 



CHAPTER Y. 

MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY TENDENCIES TO 
DISEASE. 

To those who have unfortunately inherited a 
predisposition to mental disease, and especially 
those who have already suffered an attack, the 
course and conduct of life most likely to pre- 
vent its development must be a matter of the 
deepest concern. While one thus constituted 
should, certainly, avoid undue anxiety on the 
subject, yet it would be an error no less serious 
to ignore the fact altogether, and act precisely as 
if it did not exist. It would be the wiser thing, 
to believe that it depends very much on himself, 
whether or not the morbid germ is to be developed 
into fatal activity, or kept for many years, if not 
for life, in a latent condition. Though I would 
not deny that sometimes the disease is devel- 
oped, apparently, by no exoteric agencies what- 
ever, yet it is a matter of common observation, 
that this result is often attributable to incidents 
and conditions that might have been avoided. 
There is also reason to believe that many per- 
sons, thus unhappily constituted, have warded 



286 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

off an attack of disease, by looking the evil 
firmly in the face, and resolutely shunning, in 
their diet, regimen, habits, occupations, amuse- 
ments, mental and bodily exercise of every 
description, whatever might be supposed likely 
to produce unhealthy excitement. 

The first consideration I would urge on this 
class of persons is, that a tendency to mental 
disease is liable to be increased by any derange- 
ment of the bodily health. Wherever its princi- 
pal seat may be, the brain is liable to be finally 
involved in the morbid process. I do not mean 
that a fever or an influenza, a hemorrhage or a 
broken bone, may be always avoided by any 
practicable degree of prudence or forecast; and 
yet it can scarcely be questioned that a very large 
proportion of our bodily ailments proceed from 
ignorance, or imprudence, or wilful folly. The 
proper care of our bodily health, important enough 
under any circumstances, becomes doubly so 
when rendered ^necessary to preserve the health 
of the mind, j Parents who have reason to fear 
the existence of hereditary mental infirmities in 
their offspring, have an additional inducement to 
watch over their health, to strengthen their bod- 
ily powers, and promote a happy balance of the 
various faculties of the mind. It would be 
unnecessary to dwell on those dietetic rules ap- 
plicable to all sorts and conditions of youth. \ 



TENDENCIES TO DISEASE. 287 

My present object will be best met by directing 
attention to principles and practices most suit- 
able to such as may be supposed to have inher- 
ited tendencies to mental disease. 

Although insanity seldom makes its appear- 
ance in childhood, yet it can hardly be doubted 
that the initiatory step is often taken at this 
period towards the development of morbid ten- 
dencies, even when, to the superficial observer, 
everything indicates high health and a vigorous 
constitution. In the physical education. of this 
description of children, it should be a prominent 
object to strengthen the nervous system, — to 
render it less excitable, and increase its power of 
endurance. Whatever conflicts with this object, 
we may be sure is wrong, and nothing calcula- 
ted to promote it should be neglected. Much 
sedentary employment, much confinement to 
warm rooms, sleeping on feathers — all improper 
enough under any circumstances — are pecu- 
liarly adapted to foster susceptibilities to nervous 
disease. Under their influence, outward impres- 
sions are more keenly felt, nervous irritability 
accumulates, and abnormal movements are more 
easily induced. Attacks of bodily disease meet 
with less resistance, and even when apparently 
thrown off, leave behind them a diminution of 
the vital forces, and consequently an increased 
susceptibility to noxious agencies. On the 



288 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

other hand, considerable exercise in the open air, 
with some disregard of atmospherical conditions, 
serves to expend the surplus nervous energies, 
and thus excite a healthier activity in the ner- 
vous system. jUpon no class of children does 
the hot-house I management operate more unfa- 
vorably than on that we are here considering. 
Upon no other class of children do labor and 
exposure, properly regulated, prove more salu- 
tary; and parents cannot make a greater mis- 
take tjian to lavish upon them the tenderest 
nursing. 

Of more importance, however, than all this, 
is the mental and moral training, — or, more 
strictly speaking, the education and exercise of 
the brainJ This must be managed with para- 
mount reference to its health, to which every 
other consideration should be subservient. This, 
of course, requires prudence and discretion, a 
disregard of the more attractive objects of edu- 
cation, and a superiority over the vulgar preju- 
dices so prevalent on this subject. Whatever 
habits or exercises are calculated to impair the 
mental health of any child, must necessarily favor 
the growth of morbid tendencies wherever they 
exist. Errors which may be harmless to such 
as are happily organized, act with fearful effect 
upon those who have inherited a proclivity to 
disease. The most pernicious, and, at the same 



TENDENCIES TO DISEASE. 289 

time, the most common of these errors in our 
present methods of education, is to require an 
excessive amount of study. It is curious how 
few have any other idea of the youthful brain, 
than that of a machine exempted from the ordi- 
nary lot of wear and tear. The anatomist has 
displayed in some degree the wonderful arrange- 
ment of its delicate tissues, and traced its pro- 
gressive development in the ascending orders 
of the animal kingdom ; and the physiologist 
has shown, by curious experiments, how its vital 
movements are sensibly quickened by mental 
emotions ; and yet the relation between these 
facts and the work of education is seldom dis- 
cerned. On the contrary, the few who do see 
it and insist upon its practical importance, are 
often, if not generally, regarded as fanciful and 
crotchety. 

We have already seen that children are made 
to study while yet too young, and we scarcely 
need repeat that at the age of three, four, or five, 
the brain has not acquired the hardihood requi- 
site for study. It may then receive impressions, 
and the skill of the teacher may turn them to- 
some useful purpose ; but any formal exercise 
of the intellectual faculties is unnatural, and, 
for the most part, unpleasant. Most young 
children, fortunately, have too little fondness 
for study to be injured by it; but there are a. 

19 



290 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

few, of precocious development, to whom it is 
never tiresome nor disagreeable. Encouraged 
by fond, mistaken friends, they make wonder- 
ful acquisitions ; but in the very bloom of their 
promise, they suddenly fail and wither away. 
It is at a later period, when the common re- 
pugnance to study is overcome by its glitter- 
ing rewards, that the danger begins. By one 
motive or another, the brain is stimulated to an 
amount of application that would be excessive 
in adult age. The requirements of teachers, 
the love of distinction, the thirst for knowledge, 
blunt the sense of fatigue, and the usual igno- 
rance or carelessness of nature's laws utters no 
warning against the danger. Six, eight, ten 
hours a day, in school or out, the mind is en- 
gaged in the most exhaustive exercise, and even 
the night is not entirely given to rest. If any- 
thing is calculated to foster unhealthy tenden- 
cies, it certainly is such management as this, 
because it vitiates and weakens those energies 
on which we must chiefly rely, in maintaining 
the health of the brain against the influence of 
abnormal conditions. 

Supposing the individual who has inherited 
tendencies to mental disease, to have arrived at 
manhood and entered on the serious business of 
life, how shall he prevent, if possible, the devel- 
opment of those tendencies into actual disease ? 



TENDENCIES TO DISEASE. 291 

Of the danger there can be no doubt ; but very 
few are aware of it, or care to govern them- 
selves with regard to it. Occasionally, there is 
one who sees the prospect clearly before him, 
and is sincerely anxious to conform his conduct 
to such rules as the nature of his case implicitly 
requires. To such, a word of counsel is offered, 
in the hope that, if duly heeded and carried into 
daily practice, it may avert a calamity that might 
justly appal the stoutest heart. 

The necessity of ordering one's life with ref- 
erence to this constitutional defect being ad- 
mitted, it must be premised that the same 
rules of living are not equally applicable to all 
men. Difference of temperament, of education, 
of taste, of pursuits, require diversity of man- 
agement ; insomuch that a course of living 
most salutary to one might be filled with dan- 
ger to another. To enjoin upon one who de- 
lights in religious gatherings, greater devotion 
to spiritual exercises and contemplations, would 
be as inappropriate and mischievous, as to cau- 
tion a man who never enters a church against 
undue indulgence in religious emotions. The 
reverse of such advice would be most suitable 
to each. Every one, therefore, must study his 
own case, and ascertain, if possible, where his 
peculiar danger lies. There are a few general 
rules, however, of universal application. 



292 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

Most persons have some weak point in their 
physical constitution, and this, by a well known 
law of the animal economy, is the first to suffer 
under any general disturbance of the vital ac- 
tions. "Whatever habit or indulgence, therefore, 
may be supposed, under the common rules of 
hygiene, to impair the vital energies, should 
be carefully shunned. Good habits of living, 
abundant exercise in the open air, unstinted 
sleep, plain, nutritious food, moderation and 
temperance in all things, beneficial as they are 
to all, are peculiarly important to those whose 
hereditary tendencies expose them to mental 
disease. Especially are stimulants, and what- 
ever else is calculated to affect the nervous sys- 
tem, to be used with extreme caution. I do not 
say that they are invariably and uncondition- 
ally injurious, but that they generally are when 
used to excess, and often are, even when used 
with judicious moderation. Nobody, therefore, 
with the morbid tendencies in question, and 
sincerely desirous of preventing their develop- 
ment, will hesitate to deny himself all indul- 
gence in tobacco and spirituous liquors, not 
implicitly required by some other conditions. 
Though not among the most potent agencies 
in creating insanity where no hereditary pre- 
disposition exists, yet few are more efficient 
than the latter in developing the latent germs 



TENDENCIES TO DISEASE. 293 

of the disease. This caution is peculiarly neces- 
sary, in view of the very common use of these 
articles at the present time, — so common as to 
be regarded by a large portion of the race as 
one of the normal habits of modern life. 

Excessive bodily exertion, by deranging some 
of the functions of organic life, may thus indi- 
rectly occasion mental disease, and therefore 
should be cautiously used by the class of per- 
sons in question. I have already adverted to 
the fact that no small amount of insanity in 
this country, especially among the young, mar- 
ried, American women of the humbler classes, 
is produced by a degree of daily toil greatly 
beyond their power of endurance, and unenliv- 
ened by sufficient recreation or amusement. 
That the health of our women has been depre- 
ciating during the last forty or fifty years, is a 
fact too lamentably patent to be questioned. 
To be exempt, for a twelvemonth, from some 
bodily ailment, or that kind of delicate health 
which is but a slight remove from it, has 
become a fact of no common occurrence. 
When persons thus constituted are forced, by 
the circumstances of their position, beyond 
their strength, it is not strange that, where pre- 
disposition to disease exists, the brain should 
become the suffering organ. They contribute 
very largely to swell the number of cases 



294 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

charged to " ill-health," in the table of causes 
which forms a portion of most of our hospital 
reports, — a number which has been steadily 
increasing, until it predominates over every 
other. The evil is so much the more deplor- 
able, as it seems to be beyond the reach of 
any practicable remedy. A single morbific 
agency might be met and overcome ; but 
when the evil results, as it does in this case, 
from a host of adverse agencies, — a climate 
changeable, and presenting the extremes of 
temperature, unventilated apartments, food of 
poor materials and badly cooked, patent med- 
icines, (become almost as common as daily 
bread,) deficient exercise at one time and ex- 
cessive labor at another, social habits in which 
the gratification of the cheerful emotions has 
but little place, hereditary tendencies to disease 
inexorable in their operation, though utterly 
ignored by the mass of mankind, — it needs 
a sanguine faith in human docility to expect 
any immediate improvement. 

However important may be the physical reg- 
imen of persons predisposed to mental disease, 
it is, unquestionably, upon their mental exer- 
cises that the fate of the larger portion must 
chiefly depend. How these shall be ordered so 
as to best secure the object in view ; what kind 
and amount of mental application shall be 



TENDENCIES TO DISEASE. 295 

allowed ; what moral and intellectual powers 
shall be cultivated or neglected, — these are 
questions to be carefully and intelligently con- 
sidered. In fact, no one, with the tendencies in 
question, has a right to expect immunity from 
the threatened danger, who has not so consid- 
ered them, and, as the result of his inquiries, 
adopted some special rules of living. For this 
purpose, a few practical hints may be of service, 
founded upon considerable observation of abnor- 
mal obliquities and morbid tendencies. 

By the class of persons whose case we are 
here considering, no more conservative agency 
can be had than that of suitable and steady 
employment. Absolute rest, idleness, freedom 
from care and duty, are not the things most 
conducive to mental health. Activity is the 
law of our mental, as well as physical life, and 
it is not annulled by the presence of morbid 
tendencies. It requires only to be skilfully 
modified to be followed by its ordinary results, 
— continued strength, buoyancy, and endur- 
ance. Whatever employment be adopted, it 
should fulfil certain indispensable conditions. 

It should require an amount of application 
much less than that deemed safe and proper 
in more happily constituted minds. Here the 
brain is peculiarly sensitive to any strain upon 
its energies, and being deprived of its proper 



296 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

elasticity, it fails to recover itself completely 
when the tension is removed. A degree of ir- 
ritability, and perhaps of discomfort, is finally 
established, which may be readily converted 
into disease. A full amount of mental labor, 
therefore, is out of the question, and it is the 
part of wisdom to recognize the fact and con- 
form to its requisitions. 

The employment should be not merely an 
easy sort of drudgery or busy idleness, but one 
as interesting and useful as practicable, and 
adapted to the person's taste and station. Sim- 
ple occupation of the attention is better than 
nothing, but it lacks those conservative influ- 
ences which flow from the consciousness of 
having accomplished something that needed to 
be done. It should involve no great responsi- 
bility, nor subject one to unpleasant intercourse 
with others. It should furnish little occasion for 
the control of temper, and be as free as possible 
from disappointments and failures. There are 
many kinds of employment in which these per- 
sons might safely engage while the sea is 
smooth and the winds light, but which, in 
those periods of storm and tempest that are 
sure to happen sooner or later, would be full of 
peril. If they consult their own welfare, they 
will never undertake to command ships, super- 
intend railroads, or embark in mercantile specu- 
lations. 



TENDENCIES TO DISEASE. 297 

From social pleasures of the simple, quiet 
kind, the happiest effect may be expected ; but 
absolute seclusion should not be more carefully 
avoided than gatherings of people where the 
sound of passion is heard, and the heart and 
the will are carried away captive by the irre- 
sistible power of sympathy. I do not say that 
there are no exceptional cases, but, until satis- 
fied by competent authority that the general 
rule does not apply to them, these persons had 
better act habitually on the conviction that such 
scenes are not for them. 

Of any employment or recreation, it should 
be an indispensable condition, that it should 
not curtail the proper allowance of sleep, either 
by encroaching on its regular hours, or by filling 
the mind with thoughts and images that refuse 
to depart at bidding. Deficient sleep is a source 
of imminent peril, and when it continues for 
many days, the appropriate remedies should be 
sought without delay. A large portion of the 
secondary attacks of mental disease are occa- 
sioned by loss of sleep, induced by circumstan- 
ces more or less under the control of the patient. 
No call of duty or of pleasure, whether it be to 
watch with the sick, or join the festive circle, 
should be allowed to shorten the period that 
rightfully belongs to nature's sweet restorer. 

When the morbid tendency begins to show 



298 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

itself, merely in unusual restlessness, there 
may be a craving for amusements and excit- 
ing scenes, which friends are too ready to 
indulge, with no idea of the danger they in- 
cur. Nothing can be more mischievous than 
such indulgence, calculated, as it is, to cherish 
the kindling spark and fan it into an uncon- 
trollable flame. In this condition, quiet, seclu- 
sion from gatherings of people and from all 
scenes whatever which leave vivid impressions 
upon the mind, are implicitly required, distaste- 
ful as the discipline may be. These periods of 
abnormal excitability may frequently occur in 
such persons, and it depends very much on the 
firmness and intelligence with which they are 
managed, whether they are kept within endur- 
able limits, or pass into overt, uncontrollable 
disease. 

Persons predisposed to mental disease should 
carefully avoid a partial, one-sided cultivation 
of their mental powers, — a fault to which their 
mental constitution renders them peculiarly lia- 
ble. Let them bear in mind that every promi- 
nent trait of character, intellectual or moral, 
every favorite form of mental exercise, is liable 
to be fostered at the expense of other exercises 
and attributes, until it becomes an indication of 
actual disease. Here lies their peculiar danger, 
that the very thing most agreeable to their taste 



TENDENCIES TO DISEASE. 299 

and feelings is that which they have most to 
fear. Maiiy of this class of persons possess a 
large endowment of the ideal faculty. They 
delight to dwell in the regions of fancy, and the 
subjects they habitually contemplate are such 
as the imagination only can supply. From 
this prolific source they draw the sustenance of 
their intellectual life ; and though they may not 
necessarily possess a poetical temperament, yet 
their duties, their prospects, even the great pur- 
poses of life, are apt to be regarded from an 
ideal point of view. Severer exercises of mind 
— such as require the reasoning powers — 
are uncongenial, and consequently neglected. 
Close observation, exact knowledge, diligent 
application, careful induction, form no part of 
a mental experience which is crowded with 
strange combinations of thoughts, with beauti- 
ful imagery, and all the heterogeneous oifspring 
of fancy. Thus, the rightful balance of the 
intellectual faculties, essential to the highest 
health and vigor, is finally lost, and but little 
is then required to induce unequivocal disease. 
Such persons should beware how they yield to 
their favorite contemplations. As a matter of 
safety, they should cultivate those faculties 
which are concerned with objective or definite 
truths, such as those of mathematics, natural 
history, and natural philosophy. These require 



300 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

a more equal and steady attention, and are 
marked by more exact and tangible results, all 
well calculated to check that roving movement 
of the mind, which, under whatever name it 
may pass, weakens its powers of self-control, 
and thus invites the approach of disease. Per- 
cival, the poet, who, no doubt, described his 
own experience when he said, — 

" A thousand 'wildering reveries led astray 
My better reason, and my unguarded soul 
Danced, like a feather, on the turbid sea 
Of its own wild and freakish fantasies," — 

was, all his life, hovering on the verge of insan- 
ity, from which he was saved, probably, by his 
taste for the study of natural science and of the 
languages, to which, fortunately, his attention 
was early directed. They drew his mind from 
a too intense contemplation of the ideal world, 
where it was at the sport of every erratic, mor- 
bid, vital movement, and fixed it upon truths 
that required its calm, clear, and steady insight. 
The near alliance of the poetical temperament 
with insanity has passed into a proverb, and, 
exaggerated though the fact may be, there is 
much reason to believe that it is not entirely an 
error. " Perhaps," says the great historian of 
our time, " no man can be a poet, or even enjoy 
poetry, without a certain unsoundness of mind." 



TENDENCIES TO DISEASE. 301 

"Without troubling ourselves to discuss the psy- 
chological accuracy of this statement, we may 
fairly maintain its substantial correctness. No 
one can have witnessed the phenomena of in- 
sanity on a large scale, without being struck 
with the many points of resemblance between 
the mental movements of the insane and those 
of the poet whose 

" eye, in a fine frenzy rolling, 

Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven ; 

And, as imagination bodies forth 

The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen 

Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing 

A local habitation and a name." 

In both, the judgment, or the faculty by which 
ideas or associations are regarded according to 
the relations of cause and effect, of means and 
end, ceases to exert its influence, and the 
thoughts succeed one another, without any very 
obvious bond of connection besides that of si- 
militude or contrast. In both, the ideal faculty 
predominates over every other in giving shape 
and direction to the thoughts, and both are 
characterized by an intensity of conception un- 
known to other conditions of mind. This anal- 
ogy is not stated for the purpose of detracting 
from the dignity of the poetical character, but . 
that it may give additional force to the warning 



302 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

against the unlimited and unregulated exercise 
of the ideal faculty. Let a man of an unhealthy 
mental constitution implicitly yield to its domi- 
nation, and allow it habitually to give shape and 
direction to his thoughts, and there can be no 
hesitation in saying that he is in peril of tnental 
disease. And it is immaterial, in a hygienic 
point of view, whether the trait in question 
manifests itself in poetical reading and writing, 
in the ideal coloring which invests every object 
of contemplation, or in the dreamy reverie which 
constitutes the usual mental exercise. 

There is another disposition of mind to be 
carefully shunned by the class of persons in 
question, — that of allowing the attention to be 
engrossed by some particular interest to the 
neglect of every other, even of those most nearly 
connected with the welfare of the individual. 
The caution is especially necessary in an age 
whose intellectual character is marked by strife 
and conflict, rather than calm contemplation or 
philosophical inquiry; and in which even the 
good and the true are pursued with an ardor 
more indicative of nervous excitement than of 
pure, unadulterated emotion. The prevalent feel- 
ing is, that whatever is worth striving for at all, 
is worthy of all possible zeal and devotion ; and, 
supported by the sympathy and cooperation of 
others similarly disposed, the coldest natures be- 



TENDENCIES TO DISEASE. 303 

come, at last, willing to go as far and as fast as 
any. Indeed, a man can hardly gain the credit 
of honesty in his opinions, unless ever ready to 
surrender "himself soul and body to their support. 
Where the mind of a person revolves in a very 
narrow circle of thought, it lacks entirely that 
recuperative and invigorating power which 
springs from a wider comprehension of things, 
and more numerous objects of interest. The 
habit of brooding over a single idea is calculated 
to dwarf the soundest mind ; but to those unfor- 
tunately constituted, it is positively dangerous, 
because they are easily led to this kind of par- 
tial mental activity, and are kept from running 
into fatal extremes by none of those conservative 
agencies which a broader discipline and a more 
generous culture naturally furnish. The result 
of this continual dwelling on a favorite idea is, 
that it comes up unbidden, and cannot be dis- 
missed at pleasure. Reason, fancy, passion, 
emotion, — every power of the mind, in short, — 
are pressed into its service, until it is magnified 
into gigantic proportions and endowed with 
wonderful attributes. The conceptions become 
unnaturally vivid, the general views narrow and 
distorted, the proprieties of time and place are 
disregarded, the guiding, controlling power of 
the mind is disturbed, and, as the last stage of 
this melancholy process, reason is completely 



304 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

dethroned. These persons should be careful, 
therefore, how they suffer themselves to be led 
into the active support of those prominent moral 
and social enterprises that abound in every com- 
munity. No matter what may be their convic- 
tions touching the necessity or justice of these 
projects, or the claims they make on the sympa- 
thy of all good and true men. They cannot 
join the ranks of those whose devotion to their 
favorite cause knows no stint or measure, with- 
out serious peril to their mental integrity. Let 
them, therefore, habitually feel that their mission 
in life lies in the quiet, unobtrusive performance 
of those duties which are incumbent on all, 
rather than in the promotion of enterprises 
which court the public gaze and stimulate their 
energies to the highest possible pitch. Let them 
not be beguiled by any fanciful obligations of 
duty, to quit the humbler sphere of effort most 
suitable to their mental capacities. There will 
always be enough to take the prominent places 
which they had better avoid, while no sphere of 
life is without its opportunities of useful and 
honorable effort. 

Man is a creature, not only of intellect and 
appetite, but of sentiment. He is endowed 
with faculties whereby certain attributes of men 
and things excite emotions of pleasure or pain, 
— all necessary to the accomplishment of the 



TENDENCY TO DISEASE. 305 

ends of his existence, — all essential to his hap- 
piness as a moral and rational creature, — all 
essential to the maintenance of his responsi- 
bility to God and man. That the sentiments, as 
well as the intellect, may be perverted by dis- 
ease, is a fact to which the phenomena of insan- 
ity abundantly testify. There is no reason why 
they should not. Indeed, since the intellectual 
and moral faculties are equally dependent on 
the brain, the manifestations of cerebral disorder 
are as likely to appear in one as in the other. 
Which it may happen to be, is a question, I ap- 
prehend, of cerebral locality, and, it may be, of 
certain organic conditions not yet understood. 
It is not disputed that disease may affect the 
intellect, without, at the same time, involving, 
apparently, the affective powers ; and it is no 
less obvious that the latter may be greatly dis- 
ordered while the former seems, at least, to re- 
main in its normal condition. To say that 
mental disease necessarily implies obvious in- 
tellectual aberration, is simply to ignore the 
testimony of every day's observation. , The 
question is not, whether, in such cases, the in- 
tellect is entirely untouched by the disease, but 
whether or not the disease is so slight as to 
escape notice, and thus not sensibly affect the 
great predominance of the moral disorder. If 
we were contending against a barren specula- 
20 



306 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

tion, it would be labor lost, no doubt ; but the 
practical consequences of the doctrine cannot 
be regarded without the deepest concern. So 
long as the intellect is not visibly diseased, it is 
alleged, there is no insanity, — none certainly 
that can impair the legal responsibility of the 
patient. Disease may sap the very foundations 
of the moral nature; it may blast the sentiments 
of benevolence, of justice, of veneration, — chang- 
ing naturally mild and amiable dispositions into 
malignant passions ; converting the man of gen- 
erous, open-hearted nature, into a miser, with 
no thought of anything but accumulation; the 
man of sternest integrity into a pilferer of the 
smallest description ; the staid, quiet, respect- 
able citizen into a noisy, shameless brawler, 
regardless of every rule of common propriety or 
courtesy, — and yet, in no court of conscience 
or of justice, is he to claim any exemption from 
the ordinary consequences of vice and crime! 
Surely, it is a monstrous doctrine to put forth 
in an age of humanity and science, that just 
when those moral checks and balances which 
the Creator has placed in the human soul, for 
the proper ordering of the life and the attain- 
ment of life's great ends, are disarranged and 
perverted by the intrusion of a foreign element, 
the individual is none the less capable of per- 
forming his moral duties and obligations, and 



TENDENCY TO DISEASE. 307 

none the less accountable for any short-comings 
that may follow. It is difficult to argue against 
a doctrine so destitute of any foundation 
in fact, and opposed to the testimony of every 
day's observation ; and one is obliged to be con- 
tented with simply an expression of wonder and 
amazement. 

If 5 indeed, the moral powers hold such in- 
timate relations with mental disease, then, 
certainly, the discipline to which they are 
subjected becomes a matter of the highest im- 
portance. Bearing in mind the fundamental 
law of the animal economy, that excessive ex- 
ercise of a faculty leads to its disease, all the 
more surely and speedily when the conserva- 
tive power is weakened by hereditary tendency 
to disease, we may readily understand the ne- 
cessity of prudence in the use of those faculties, 
on the part of persons thus constituted. In 
some degree, at least, they have the power of 
controlling their moral movements, and, to that 
extent, of hastening or retarding an attack of 
disease; and some, — a small proportion, per- 
haps, but large enough to be worth saving, if 
possible, — need only to be put on their guard 
in order to avoid the danger. / 

To know where their danger lies, let them as- 
certain, not only by self-examination, but by the 
counsel of judicious friends, their own ruling 



308 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

sentiments, — those which determine, in a great 
degree, their peculiar traits of character. No 
one sees himself exactly as others see him, and 
none hit so wide of a proper self-estimate, as 
those whose insight is disturbed by the play of 
morbid tendencies. Let the persons in question 
distrust themselves, therefore, and defer to the 
judgment of others who are competent to ob- 
serve correctly their mental peculiarities, and 
are moved by a sincere interest in their welfare. 
Thus may they learn the impending danger in 
season to avoid it, and before the world at 
large, perhaps, is aware of its existence. 

When mental disease is fairly established, it 
becomes a matter of professional care, but be- 
fore it is fully developed, and in some degree 
afterwards, much must be left, in regard to its 
moral and domestic management, to the intelli- 
gence and discretion of friends. To perform 
their duty properly, in a position of so much re- 
sponsibility, and under such unusual relations, 
they need especial advice and direction. On 
the course they pursue may depend the fate of 
a wife, a child, a parent, a friend ; and therefore 
they should be governed by reliable information 
rather than by vulgar prejudice and ignorance. 
In the progress of the disease, from the first 
barely perceptible wandering to unequivocal 
disorder, there comes a time when those nearest 



TENDENCY TO DISEASE. 309 

and dearest to the patient are bound by every 
consideration of propriety and humanity to as- 
sume some control over his actions. The exact 
moment when this step should be taken, in any 
given case, is not easily settled, and thus the 
mistake is not unfrequently made, either of in- 
terfering too soon, and thus precipitating the 
evil we are seeking to avert, or, as is far more 
common, waiting until some sad occurrence 
takes place, or the favorable season for arresting 
the course of the malady is irretrievably lost. 
General directions on this subject must be too 
indefinite to admit of very exact practical appli- 
cation, but they will serve, at the least, to indi- 
cate the duty in question, and the importance 
of performing it rightly. 

The early stage of insanity, or its incubation, as 
it is professionally called, — that which precedes 
a degree of mental impairment that disqualifies 
the person from maintaining his ordinary re- 
lations to others, — may be long or short, em- 
bracing a period of years, or only of a few days 
or weeks. It may consist in a few oddities of 
behavior or changes of affection, of little practi- 
cal moment, or in irregular conduct, or unac- 
countable dislikes, or simple idleness and loss of 
all power of application to business, or a dispo- 
sition to embark in all manner of schemes and 
enterprises; in an apathy that no persuasion 



310 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

can shake, or a restlessness manifested in in- 
cessant roaming ; in excessive hilarity that 
surprises rather than grieves, or a deep despon- 
dency that leads to self-destruction. No single 
rule of management can be applicable to such a 
variety of conditions, but a few hints may be of 
some practical service. 

Indications of intended violence, especially 
towards those whose relations to the patient 
place them completely within his power, will 
justify immediate interference, however correct 
and rational otherwise he may appear. To 
wait until some overt act of violence is com- 
mitted, is no kindness to him, but gross injus- 
tice. Most of those terrible acts which excite a 
thrill of horror through whole communities, are 
committed by this very class of the insane, 
whose unsoundness does not seem, to timid, 
hesitating friends, sufficient to warrant any 
measure of restraint. 

Again, when mental disorder consists in a 
kind of exaltation manifested in loud and ex- 
travagant discourse, not proper for the public 
ear ; or in a disposition to ramble about with- 
out regard to the ordinary proprieties of place 
and season; or in a fondness for bargains or 
commercial enterprises unsuited to the natural 
habits, tastes, or means, then interference is 
needed to save the patient from jeopardizing 



TENDENCY TO DISEASE. 311 

health, reputation, or fortune, and exposing his 
infirmity in a manner calculated to cause him, 
when he comes to himself, unspeakable grief and 
mortification. In the opposite condition, too, 
where the mind is overwhelmed by distressing 
doubts and apprehensions, joined perhaps to a 
sense of utter unworthiness, with not a single 
ray of hope in the future, the shortest delay is 
dangerous, because the patient invariably thinks 
of self-destruction as a means of relief. It may 
be only a thought never ripening into execution, 
or an impulse steadily gathering force until it 
becomes irresistible. Many a case of suicide 
which bursts upon the public notice like thun- 
der from a cloudless sky, is the result of this 
inexcusable reluctance on the part of friends, to 
impose restraint on one who seems to be suf- 
fering merely a fit of low spirits. 

These, by way of example, are a few of the 
mental conditions which justify and even de- 
mand interference, before the person betrays un- 
equivocal proof of insanity. In respect to that 
large class of cases the circumstances of which 
furnish room for reasonable doubt, but little 
more can be said beyond enjoining upon those 
on whom the responsibility rests, unceasing vig- 
ilance and circumspection, and assuring them 
that, although premature interference may be 
an evil, yet a far greater may result from mis- 
placed delay. 



312 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

The object proposed by interference is to place 
.the party under suitable restraint, and subject 
him to the requisite moral and medical treat- 
ment. In selecting the particular form of the 
measure, reference must always be had to the 
circumstances of the case — to the grade of the 
disorder, the disposition of the patient, his do- 
mestic relations, and pecuniary condition. The 
nature of the malady is incompatible with that 
ready acquiescence in the wishes of friends 
which is generally yielded in other disorders ; 
and, therefore, those wishes must be enforced by 
means more peremptory than arguments. Such 
means may be used, occasionally, in the patient's 
own home, in the midst of his family, and oc- 
casionally they may prove sufficient for the 
purpose. He yields to the measures thought 
necessary for his safety and restoration, makes 
no attempt to escape from control, and is harm- 
less to himself and others. Butjjfor the most part, 
domestic supervision is not thorough enough to 
obviate all danger from the disordered passions, 
and sentiments ; or the patient rebels against the 
mildest form of restraint ; or he is too obstinate 
or too apathetic to follow the prescribed treat- 
ment. Jin such cases, it becomes necessary to 
choose (some form of restraint more stringent 
and effectual. This is sometimes obtained by 
placing him in some other family than his own, 
in the hope that he will yield to strangers or 



TENDENCY TO DISEASE. 313 

less familiar acquaintances what he refuses to 
his immediate friends. Occasionally, the result 
is favorable. The withdrawal from painful 
associations, and the presence of those whose 
favor and authority are not to be slighted, render 
him sufficiently docile, and the new position ex- 
erts a decidedly salutary influence. Generally^ 
however, this measure proves as ineffectual as 
the management at home, and is liable to the 
same objections. 

In the early stage of the disease travelling^ 
often recommended, especially by medical men, 
who suppose that the necessary presence of a 
companion furnishes all the required restraint, 
and that the impressions produced by frequent 
change of scene may exert a restorative influence. 
The reasons offered for this course are so plausi- 
ble, and the authority by which it is recommend- 
ed so imposing, that, where the means are not 
wanting, it is often er resorted to than any other. 
Lsvill not say that it is never successful, for that 
would be hardly correct ; but such a result, ac- 
cording to my observation, is exceedingly rare,. 
and a little reflection on the mental condition 
will show us the reason. The truth is that, 
whether excited or depressed, the mind is 
strongly exercised by the strange thoughts and 
emotions that possess it. Jj needs rest, repose, 
withdrawal from excitement, or at most, a kind of 



314 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

activity which is carefully measured and directed 
by an experienced head. It is not in a condition 
to be gratified by external impressions, while 
their frequency and variety rather disturb and 
distract the thoughts, than turn them into health- 
ier channels. By that kind of vicious associa- 
tion which characterizes the operations of the 
insane mind, these impressions only serve to give 
additional force and vividness to its unnatural 
conceptions. In every new face, perhaps, it 
sees a confirmation of its suspicions ; in every 
untoward incident, new food for its painful ap- 
prehensions ; in every arrangement, some special 
reference to its own condition. In the few cases 
where travelling has been beneficial, I am in- 
clined to think that the disorder was in its very 
earliest stage, consisting in an inability to gov- 
ern the thoughts at all times, or only a little 
dejection of spirits or disinclination to mental 
effort. Probably, it would oftener succeed were 
it tried thus early, instead of being deferred, as 
it usually is, until the disease is firmly fixed. 

The very natural reluctance to take a step 
which unequivocally recognizes the actual pres- 
ence of insanity, induces the friends to resort to 
other measures, even more inappropriate, if not 
more mischievous, than travelling. In the belief 
or hope which they fondly cherish, that the 
disorder is only a form of hysteria, or a little 



TENDENCY TO DISEASE. 315 

temporary disturbance of mind resulting from 
a cold or a menstrual suppression, which will 
shortly disappear, they send the patient to some 
noted spring, water-cure, or other establishment 
that promises health and longevity to every suf- 
fering child of Adam. I fear that medical men 
too often encourage this flattering unction, and 
lend the sanction of their authority to measures 
of which the mildest censure that can be uttered 
is that they are generally fruitless. It is an un- 
grateful, it is a painful office, to dissipate the last 
delusive hope, and announce a dread reality ; but 
here the highest interest of the patient and the 
friends implicitly require the plain, unvarnished 
truth. 

There remains to be considered one more in- 
strumentality for guarding and restoring the dis- 
ordered mind, viz : establishments designed ex- 
pressly for the custody and cure of the insane — 
an end which they have fulfilled with a degree 
of success which has rendered them prominent 
among the triumphs of modern philanthropy 
and science. Their object is to provide the nec- 
essary restraint in a manner as little disagree- 
able as possible, and furnish the necessary treat- 
ment at a price within the means of the hum- 
blest classes, and with a kind of skill that can be 
obtained only from special observation and train- 
ing^/ By many, however, they are regarded with 



T 



316 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

distrust and aversion, for they cannot see what 
there is in a hospitajjeven when faithfully man- 
aged, capable of compensating for the absence 
of those attentions and conveniences which are 
supposed to be found only in one's own home. 
To sever a man's domestic ties, to take him out 
of the circle of friends and relatives most deeply 
interested in his, welfare and ready to spend and 
be spent for his sakej[at the very moment too 
when his mind is distracted with jealousy and 
suspicion, and bodily infirmity perhaps has ren- 
dered him more or less helpless, kind place him 
beyond the reach of a very close observation, in 
the hands of strangers, and in the company of 
persons as disordered as himself — all this, at 
first sight, would seem as little likely to exert a 
restorative effect as any course that could possi- 
bly be devisedj Right views on this subject are 
so important, that I shall be but serving the 
purpose in hand, to explain with some particu- 
larity the peculiar advantages of hospitals for 
the insane over other means for treating this 
disease. 

Insanity implies the existence of bodily de- 
rangement, and therefore is a suitable object of 
medical treatment, which, of course, would be 
more skilfully applied by men who are devot- 
ing their whole time and attention to this affec- 
tion, than by those who observe it only on a 



TENDENCY TO DISEASE. 317 

very limited scale. But it also implies derange- 
ment of the ideas, hallucination of the senses, 
perversion of the moral sentiments, all which, 
though the result of physical disorder, are, so 
far as their outward manifestations are con- 
cerned, in some degree, under the control of 
others, and by such control — in a way not very 
well understood — the morbid process may be 
arrested. Now, it is the moral management 
prevalent in the hospitals of our own time, 
which so strongly distinguishes them from 
those of any former time, and determines, in a 
great measure, the amount of good which they 
accomplish. Until within a comparatively re- 
cent period, insanity was treated by medical 
men very much like other diseases. Regarding 
it only in its physical aspect, they considered 
their duty as finished when they had exhausted 
the kind of medication supposed to be most 
efficacious for the purpose. But in an age 
of active philanthropy and of great practical 
sagacity, the idea was not long in making its 
appearance, that something more is necessary to 
insure the highest success, even to the medical 
treatment. The fact was finally recognized that 
so long as the patient is allowed to follow the 
bent of his own will, he is only fostering and 
strengthening the morbid process going on in 
the brain ; and it also became obvious that or- 



318 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

dinary nurses in private families or in general 
hospitals are incompetent to exercise the kind 
of control which the case required. Seldom 
seeing the disease, they have little opportunity 
of acquiring skill in the practice of their duty ; 
and, besides, even if it were otherwise, it could 
not be expected that persons of their capacity 
and culture could ever do more than follow, 
with more or less fidelity, the general direc- 
tions of others. These directions the medical 
attendant could not furnish, because he knew 
comparatively little of the disease himself, and 
had given no special attention to the operations 
of the mind whether sane or insane. Visiting 
his patient at infrequent intervals, he could not 
provide for his frequently changing moods, nor 
be sure that his views were faithfully executed. 
LNeither would the arrangements of an ordinary 
household admit of that kind of restriction 
which the insane usually require, and the only 
alternative was, either an unlimited indulgence 
of the patient in his caprices, or a degree of 
coercion and confinement which irritated his 
spirit and injured his health. Under the pres- 
sure of these inconveniences and hindrances, the 
idea began to prevail that the insane could be 
best managed in establishments devoted exclu- 
sively to their care, jit was obvious that per- 
sons engaged in their service would become 



TEXDEXCY TO DISEASE. 819 






.familiar with the ways of the insane^ and there- 
by learn a thousand arts of management, and 
acquire a degree of skill in the performance of 
their duties, quite unknown to others. The 
Vnedical man, too, concentrating his attention^ 
upon a single disease, and devoting all his time 
to the little community around him, would ob- 
tain an amount of practical information which 
no other source can supply. He would also 
impart to the general^management of an estab- 
lishment a kind of lefficiency^ which can only 
spring from continuous and systematic effort 
conducted upon a large scale. The latter re- 
sult was rendered probable by the example of 
general hospitals, where congregations of simi- 
lar cases afford unusual means for studying 
their nature and obtaining the highest possible 
degree of skill in their treatment. LThe world 
has not been disappointed. The beneficial re- 
sults expected from special hospitals for the 
insane have been abundantly experienceJjJ and 
the benevolence of the age has been largely 
engaged in establishing them, until they, have 
become firmly rooted in the necessities and 
affections of every Christian community. 

We have already intimated that their supe- 
rior success in the treatment of the insane 
depends, chiefly, on the greater efficiency of 
their moral management. It is one of their 



320 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

merits, indeed, that this management works so 
easily, and substitutes so quietly its own ar- 
rangements for the suggestions of disease, that 
the uninitiated observer finds it difficult to ap- 
preciate its real value, and thus often mistakes 
the character of its results. He sees the patient 
taking no medicine, perhaps ; calm in his dis- 
course and movements ; readily complying with 
the wishes of others ; and engaging, it may be, 
in some form of work or amusement ; and he 
adopts the conclusion, which no opinion of the 
physician can shake, that the patient has recov- 
ered, or, at any rate, is so much better, that he 
would do equally well at home or in a private 
family. He can scarcely be made to believe 
that what he witnesses is chiefly the result of 
that special management peculiar to a modern 
hospital for the insane ; of architectural ar- 
rangements which restrain without annoyance ; 
of systematic regularity in the daily routine of 
life ; of gentle manners ; judicious firmness ; vig- 
ilant, enlightened, and conscientious supervision. 
Now, these qualities are not a matter of acci- 
d, *it, iaor are they the growth of a day. They 
are the elaborated result of a profound study 
of the mental constitution both in health and 
disease; of extensive inquiry into the various 
arts concerned in the erection and practical 
working of a considerable establishment ; and 



TENDENCY TO DISEASE. 321 

of an organization of the service best calcu- 
lated to effect its destined object. To suppose 
them otherwise would be to commit a folly 
like that of inferring from the quiet, easy work- 
ing of a complicated machine, that its construc- 
tion is very simple and was readily accom- 
plished ; thus overlooking entirely the years of 
meditation, the numberless experiments, and the 
successive steps towards the desired object, that 
finally led to an admirable piece of mechanism. 
The peculiar restlessness of the insane which 
impels them to roam about regardless of time 
and occasion, at the risk of their own safety 
and the peace of society, and which finds no 
sufficient restriction in the arrangements of 
an ordinary dwelling short of confinement in 
a small apartment, is effectually controlled in 
a hospital; while the range of ample galleries 
and airing-courts prevents that control from 
being oppressive and unhealthy. Their fitful 
humors, their wild caprices, their impulsive 
movements, their angry looks, are met by the 
steady and straightforward will of attendants 
who have learned to perform their duty un- 
biased by fear or favor. Having no object 
of their own to sep^e ; imbibing the spirit of 
kindness which prevails around them ; deterred 
from improper practices by a vigilant super- 
vision, and aided by suitable architectural con- 
21 



322 MfiNTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

trivances, they are enabled to manage their 
charge with the least possible degree of an- 
noyance. Thus withdrawn from outward ex- 
citements, and especially from the persons and 
scenes connected with his mental disorder, the 
patient naturally becomes calmer, his mind 
opens to better suggestions, and finally seeks 
for repose in amusement or labor. And thus 
it happens that in many cases but little more 
is necessary to conduct the morbid process to 
a successful issue, besides giving the constitu- 
tion a fair chance to exert its restorative pow- 
ers, unembarrassed by adverse influences. 

In the hospital, the patient is withdrawn from 
the" countless adverse incidents to which he is 
elsewhere exposed. He is saved from the ad- 
vice of good-natured friends, oftener pernicious 
than salutary, because founded on very imper- 
fect notions of insanity ; he is saved from hear- 
ing or seeing something every hour calculated 
to maintain the morbid process which is nour- 
ished by what might seem to be the most harm- 
less material ; he is saved from all those disagree- 
able associations between the morbid thoughts 
and emotions, and the scenes, persons, and ob- 
jects around him, which serve, in the strong- 
est manner, to perpetuate the mental disturb- 
anceJ The importance of the last consideration 
is not generally understood; many, no doubt, 



TENDENCY TO DISEASE. 323 

are not even aware of its existence. It is now 
a well-settled principle, that, to treat the insane 
with the highest degree of success, the surround- 
ings of the patient should be entirely changed, 
so that he shall see no face nor other object 
familiar to him in the previous stage of his dis- 
ease, nor recognize anything in fact calculated 
to remind him by force of association, of some 
distressing thought or feeling. For we must 
bear in mind that even in cases where we 
should least expect it, the sight of some trivial 
object, — a door, a paper-hanging, or a piece of 
furniture, or the hearing of some unmeaning 
sound, — is suggesting, it may be, a train of un- 
comfortable reflections. They who have charge 
of hospitals for the insane will tell us that the 
sight of a bundle of old clothes from home is 
sufficient to reproduce all the original excite- 
ment and agitation in many a patient, calm, 
quiet, and apparently convalescing. In these 
things, we find the explanation of the common 
fact of the immediate and considerable improve- 
ment following the removal of the patient from 
his own home to the hospital. 

The domestic management of the insane is 
most at fault in failing to meet the successive 
changes in their condition with appropriate 
treatment, and especially in permitting a pre- 
mature withdrawal from seclusion. The earli- 



324 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

est symptom of returning reason is the signal 
for removing restrictions, and the first intima- 
tion from the patient of a wish to visit his 
customary haunts and engage in his customary 
pursuits is cheerfully gratified ; and even if the 
friends should suspect the propriety of the 
course, their better judgment is overborne by 
the importunity of the patient. But his brain 
is still irritable, and easily disturbed by new and 
various emotions. A short experience shows that 
the trial is beyond his powers ; the morbid pro- 
cess is reproduced, and soon assumes its orig- 
inal severity, and he is fortunate indeed if he 
ever recover the ground he has lost. That 
this is a frequent result of domestic manage- 
ment we have abundant reason to believe, and 
no degree of intelligence or discretion on the 
part of friends could well make it otherwise. 
In the hospital, on the contrary, this stage of 
the disease, when the cloud is beginning to 
disperse, is as carefully watched as any other, 
and the skill of the physician is no less re- 
quired to conduct it to unequivocal convales- 
cence. The patient's incessant solicitations for 
release are met by a firm denial; his impa- 
tience and discontent, however urgently mani- 
fested, are unable to prevail against a strong 
sense of duty and a clear apprehension of his 
true condition. Even in the limited intercourse 



TENDENCY TO DISEASE. 325 

which the patient while in the hospital main- 
tains with his friends, he often succeeds in 
bending them to his wishes. It is precisely 
in this transition period of the disease, when 
its graver effects have been succeeded by a 
morbid irritability of the brain, producing un- 
usual restlessness and impatience, — the period 
when, of all others, is needed their willing co- 
operation, because the patient's hopes and ef- 
forts to obtain his release are then the greatest 
obstacles to be encountered in the work of res- 
toration, — it is just then, I say, that one has 
the most occasion to deplore their misjudged 
interference. He admits that he was very ill 
when he came in, but declares that he has re- 
covered entirely, and was never better in his 
life ; for he eats, works, and feels, as well as ever, 
and that it is downright cruelty and oppression 
to keep him from his family and business. He 
appeals to their affection and their sense of 
right, and, to quicken their sympathies in his 
behalf, he may insinuate that his treatment in 
the hospital is not exactly what they would 
approve. In the severer grades of this condi- 
tion, he may even endeavor to excite their ap- 
prehensions by the fearful prediction that he 
will soon become a fool or a maniac like the 
rest of them. Too often, friends are moved by 
such appeals from those they love and respect. 



326 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

They try to persuade themselves that such 
discontent is worse than any possible conse- 
quences of a premature removal ; they fear to 
incur the patient's displeasure ; and finally work 
themselves into the belief that the doctor is 
unnecessarily scrupulous — perhaps governed 
by interested views. Now, we know that this 
trait which makes so strong an impression on 
them is one of the most common phenomena 
of insanity, and is indicative of morbid action in 
the brain. We also know that under a longer 
perseverance it will finally disappear, and be 
succeeded by a calm and contented spirit in 
which the patient has less confidence in his 
own strength, and is more willing to be guided 
by the advice of others. We also know that 
a return to customary scenes and pursuits will 
only aggravate rather than relieve this restless 
feeling, and in a large proportion of cases, he 
goes back in a condition less promising than the 
first. I have no hesitation in saying that many 
of the incurables that form so large a share of 
the inmates of our hospitals, have been made so 
by the interference of well-meaning but injudi- 
cious friends. 

It is well understood, except, of course, by 
those who are governed by the most vulgar 
prejudices, that the moral management in hos- 
pitals for the insane is characterized by invari 



TENDENCY TO DISEASE. 327 

able mildness, unmingled with any of that sever- 
ity which was once regarded as indispensable, 
yet but few understand precisely how it is 
maintained. It would seem, from the common 
notion on this subject, that, the correctness of 
the principle once recognized, nothing more 
would be necessary to insure a practical ful- 
filment. Men make no account of any pos- 
sible conflict between principle and practice, 
and forget the influence of deficient culture 
and the force of passion. They do not seem 
to be aware that, under the circumstances of 
the case, the supremacy of the moral senti- 
ments can be maintained only by special man- 
agement, and that if the discipline of a hospital 
is very different from that of a jail or a poor- 
house, the fact cannot be attributed to chance. 
If this point were well understood, hospitals 
would be more correctly appreciated than they 
can be under merely general impressions of 
their utility, and therefore it may be worth our 
while to advert to it for a moment. 

The rules of these institutions enjoin upon all 
engaged in the service, the uniform observance 
of a mild and gentle deportment, and forbid 
the use of harsh words and rough handling, 
under pain of dismissal. This is one step tow- 
ards the object, but, without something more, 
it would scarcely be sufficient to gain it. To 



328 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

make the rule an active, vital principle, pervad- 
ing every part of the service upon the patients, 
infusing itself into the morals and manners of 
all, prompting every movement and character- 
izing every effort, softening the tones and looks, 
and inspiring confidence and self-respect, — to 
save it, in short, from becoming a mere dead 
letter, — the service must be organized and di- 
rected in a benevolent and elevated spirit, by 
men who are led by their own discipline and 
culture to enforce a rigid performance of duty, 
and possess the requisite qualities of mind for 
carrying their views into practical effect. In 
this way, and in this only, will the service be 
pervaded by a high moral feeling, if that may 
be called so which is the result of a system 
rather than a spontaneous or conscientious ef- 
fort. In considerable establishments, the high 
character of the service is the result of special 
training and careful supervision. The attend- 
ant, on entering upon his duty, readily falls into 
the established routine, and yields to the influ- 
ences around him. He is directed by others 
who know more than himself, and his own dis- 
cretion and temper are exercised within very 
narrow limits. By precept and example, he 
learns that he is engaged in an honorable ser- 
vice, and is naturally led to magnify his office. 
From this feeling there arises an esprit du corps, 



TENDENCY TO DISEASE. 329 

a sort of public sentiment, which elevates his 
aims, and rebukes improper practices more 
effectually than a code of regulations. In the 
private family, on the contrary, all is very differ- 
ent. There the attendant is virtually supreme, 
for the power above him may know no better 
than he what the exigencies of the case require, 
and hence his charge is exposed to injurious 
indulgences or unnecessary restrictions. Un- 
watched, and unimpressed by surrounding in- 
fluences, there is nothing to prevent him from 
yielding to his impulses under irritation, and 
venting his spleen upon the patient. If recov- 
ery takes place under such circumstances, it 
must be in spite of attendance, and not at all 
in consequence of any restorative influence ex- 
erted by it. 

If it be asked wherein this peculiar character 
of hospital service is manifested, I would point 
to a few particular instances. It is evinced in 
a regard for cleanliness and proprieties of dress, 
which is so necessary in maintaining the self- 
respect of the patient, and which is preserved 
only by dint of unceasing attention. When the 
mind is deeply involved in disease, this is al- 
most the first of the minor virtues to disappear, 
and its loss prepares the way for others of a 
more serious character. In the common observ- 
ances of life, in the incoming and the outgoing, 



330 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

in the uprising and the downlying, in partaking 
of meals, engaging in exercise or amusement, 
the effect of the attendance is visible in the reg- 
ularity and quiet and good order with which 
those things are managed. In many cases this 
alone, apparently, is sufficient to calm the turbu- 
lence of the excited, and produce some attempt 
at self-control. In another instance, it is wit- 
nessed in the facility with which the patients 
are controlled, as is shown in the remarkably 
little amount of mechanical restraint which is 
used. Once the management of the insane 
was inseparable from the idea of handcuffs, 
strait-jackets, and strong-chairs. It is scarcely 
twenty years since chains were abolished in the 
hospitals of London; and in private practice, 
some form of restraint was rather the rule than 
the exception. It was supposed that such 
means were necessary to insure the safety of 
all concerned, but it is now well understood 
that, by vigilance and tact, they may be almost 
entirely dispensed with, while just so much will 
be gained in maintaining the good nature and 
self-respect of the patient. In short, the great 
ends of moral treatment, — quiet, self-control, 
orderly and respectful behavior, confidence in 
others, submission to a higher will, — may all 
be witnessed in well-regulated hospitals for the 
insane, as the result of a moral management 



TENDENCY TO DISEASE. 331 

characterized by judicious firmness and invari- 
able kindness. 

Our duties to the patient do not end when he 
is placed in a hospital. Even there, though not 
under our immediate care, he is still, or ought 
to be, the object of our unceasing, but judicious 
supervision ; and upon the manner in which 
this duty is performed depends, in some degree, 
the result of the measure. 

In the first place, it should be allowed to 
have a fair trial. Comparatively few are aware 
that insanity is very variable, and, at best, not 
very short in its duration. People are apt to 
imagine that it runs its course as rapidly as a 
fever ; or, at any rate, that the magical influ- 
ences of a hospital will cut it short. They ex- 
pect that amendment will soon follow, and be- 
come impatient if it is long delayed. The fact 
is, that weeks, months, and oftentimes years, 
may elapse, without recovery or even improve- 
ment. Statistics show that a large portion of 
the recoveries occur in the second or third year 
after the attack. The delay of improvement, 
therefore, even for a considerable period, is an 
insufficient reason for impatience or loss of con- 
fidence. Let the friends beware how they 
adopt the conclusion that the experiment has 
failed, and that they are bound to try some 
other. I unhesitatingly say, on the strength of 



332 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

much observation, that in many a person the 
disease has been made permanent in conse- 
quence of precipitate removal, who would prob- 
ably have recovered under a persevering trial of 
hospital treatment. I do not mean to convey 
the idea that any man's judgment is infallible or 
to be implicitly followed, but rather that change 
of management should be always prompted, 
not by whim, nor caprice, nor the sugges- 
tions of that large class of worthies who, with 
a degree of confidence equalled only by that 
of their ignorance, are always ready to volunteer 
advice in the affairs of their neighbors, but by 
reasons founded on exact knowledge of the 
nature of the disease as affected by outward 
influences and associations. 

Another duty incumbent on the friends is, to 
refrain from all interference with the medical or 
moral management of the patient. This should 
be entrusted without reserve to the physician, 
and a thorough compliance with his wishes will 
best promote the desired object. Many a per- 
son who would never think of questioning the 
correctness of the medical treatment, will insist 
on following his own judgment rather than the 
physician's, in respect to that most important 
part of all moral management, the intercourse 
of the patient with his friemjsl And yet, in the 
process of restoration, it is well understood that 



TENDENCY TO DISEASE. 333 

drugs, valuable as they are in their place, are 
far less efficacious than those incidents and in- 
fluences that act directly on the brain. It is 
hard to believe, no doubt, that those who are 
nearly related to the sufferer should refrain from 
visiting him when he seems to be in most need 
of comfort and consolation ; but a little reflection 
on the subject will show, that what would be a 
sacred duty under ordinary circumstances, may 
be^a source of serious mischief here. 

~Xet it be considered that the principal advan- 
tage possessed by a hospital over every other 
means of treating the insane is, that it secures 
most perfectly their seclusion from whatever 
tends to produce excessive emotion. I While at 
large, the patient is every rnomerftfexposed to 
circumstances that maintain the morbid activity 
of his mind and strengthen his aberrations; and 
in his diseased condition, almost everything in 
which his feelings are deeply interested has this 
effect. In the hospital, on the contrary, he is be- 
yond the reach of all these causes of excitement, 
and thus nature is allowed to exert its healing 
influences without any hindrance from without. 
Quiet, silence, regular routine, take the place of 
restlessness, noise, and fitful activity ; and, in- 
stead of receiving a variety of impressions cal- 
culated to excite and distract, he moves in a 
certain monotonous round, which, however dis- 



334 , MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

agreeable to sane men, may be absolutely nec- 
essary to the restoration of a disordered mind. 
To a person laboring under any degree of ma- 
niacal excitement, and to many of those also 
whose aberrations are of a depressing character, 
the sight of old friends, especially after a long 
separation, stimulates the mental movements 
already beyond control. By calling up a host 
of old associations, by exciting painful, or even 
pleasurable suggestions, the vital movements of 
the brain are precipitated, the excitement which 
had been allayed by the temporary seclusion is 
kindled afresh, and thus the hold of disease is 
strengthened. The dearer the friend, the greater 
the emotion. The same person who would 
meet a stranger with comparative indifference, 
might be agitated beyond control by the sight 
and conversation of those who are bound to 
them by ties of blood and affection. It is a 
great mistake to suppose that the insane are in- 
juriously affected only by such as they dislike, 
and that the visits of those to whom they are 
tenderly attached cannot be otherwise than 
soothing and salutary. It is not so much the 
character as the strength of the emotion, which 
does the injury ; and, therefore, even the pleas- 
ing as well as the painful emotions may, by 
means of the associations connected with them, 
prove too much for the disordered reason. So 



TENDENCY TO DISEASE. 335 

susceptible is the patient rendered by the ex- 
treme irritability which is a common feature of 
insanity, that, as already observed, the receipt of 
a parcel from home,- especially if it be some 
familiar object, often produces agitation and dis- 
turbance not readily allayed. 

Another duty of friends is, not to precipitate 
the discharge of the patient merely because all 
trace of disease seems to have vanished. After 
the more demonstrative signs of insanity have 
disappeared, a certain grade of disease may still 
exist, though not obvious on a casual inspection. 
The patient receives his friends courteously, 
eagerly inquires for others, expresses an interest 
in persons and things at home, declares he was 
never better in his life, and his whole air and 
manner seem to confirm the assertion. By the 
partial judgment of friends, the object of seclu- 
sion is regarded as fully accomplished, and no 
reason is supposed to exist for separating him 
any longer from family and home. They, how- 
ever, who see him from day to day, watch his 
ways, and listen to his discourse, know very 
well that traces of delusion still linger in his 
mind; that the current of his affections is far 
from smooth and clear, and that he imperfectly 
appreciates both his past and present condition. 
And experience tells them that only a longer 
probation is required to complete the restoration 



336 MENTAL HYGIENE AS AFFECTED BY 

which removal would be likely to prevent alto- 
gether. Under these circumstances, friends are 
much inclined to think that the physician is un- 
duly cautious, and that farther seclusion would 
only disquiet and irritate, rather than exert a re- 
storative influence. Accordingly, the impa- 
tience and importunity of the patient are al- 
lowed too frequently to prevail over the counsels 
of the physician, and the step is taken which, 
oftener than otherwise, results in disappointment 
and sorrow. The sudden change from a state 
of complete subjection to the control of others 
to that of complete self-dependence, requires a 
degree of vigor and elasticity which the brain 
does not possess. The sight of familiar scenes 
and objects and faces revives a host of painful 
associations not very conducive to recovery, and 
even strengthens and fixes delusions that were 
steadily passing away. The self-confidence 
which usually characterizes this condition, 
brooks no check nor caution from those who 
have no power to enforce their wishes, and 
leads to efforts and enterprises quite beyond 
reach. One indiscretion is followed by an- 
other ; the conservative principles of the brain, 
one after another, are lost ; until, at last, in full 
view of anxious friends, powerless to prevent 
or delay the result, the empire of disease be- 
comes fully reestablished. 



TENDENCY TO DISEASE. 837 

It should be borne in mind that, in most 
cases, the restorative process, from the first 
signs of improvement to complete, genuine re- 
covery, occupies a considerable period, and is 
marked by many fluctuations. In this disease, 
the vital movements are governed by a law of 
periodicity, more or less regular, in consequence 
of which, time is generally required, in order to 
determine exactly the character of any change, 
whether for better or worse. The most decided 
improvement may prove to be only a remission 
in the severity of the disease ; only one in a 
cycle of changes in which the morbid movement 
may revolve. And at the best, the brain is long 
in regaining its normal hardihood, and until it 
does, exemption from relapse, under any circum- 
stances of trial, cannot be confidently expected. 
A person who, after spraining his ankle, should 
undertake to walk a mile or two the moment all 
pain and inflammation had disappeared, would 
be regarded as committing a great folly. To 
use one's brain immediately after the demon- 
strative symptoms of insanity have passed away, 
as if all its powers were completely restored, 
is a folly so much the greater as the brain is so 
much the more delicate and susceptible than 
the tendons and cartilages of the ankle. When 
precisely a patient can, with safety, be restored 
to his family and customary pursuits, is a ques- 
22 



338 MENTAL HYGIENE. 



73-&36&*d 



tion which, beyond all others in the treatment of 
the insane, will task the resources of the profes- 
sional man to answer correctly. It is the part 
of wisdom, then, to leave it always to him, with 
the consoling reflection, that if, in prolonging 
the probation, he errs, it is, unquestionably, an 
error on the safe side. Many recovered persons 
say they left the hospital too soon — that they 
were far from being well when they left — 
though apparently restored to their normal con- 
dition, while the few who complain of having 
been kept too long, were obviously removed be- 
fore tbey were restored. 






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